71)4 IX. THE VITAMIN li GROUP 



could be cured by changing the diet to a natural food mixture, or it could be 

 prevented when the mother was giv^en a diet containing adequate wheat 

 germ oil or other vitamin-E-rich products. Vitamin E was found by Adam- 

 stone^*- ^^ to be concerned not only with the growth of young chicks but also 

 with the development of the embiyo. Eggs from hens on a vitamin-E-low 

 diet were found to have a lowered hatchability. Moreover, degeneration of 

 the testis occurred in adult male birds on a diet lacking vitamin E.'^ 



Following the work of Evans and Burr,'^ a number of workers found that 

 vitamin E is apparently of considerable importance in relation to normal 

 muscle metabolism. Goettsch^' and Pappenheimer,^^ working singly and 

 together, ^^ reported the occurrence of a specific muscular dystrophy in rats, 

 rabbits, and guinea pigs which were receiving a vitamin-E-free diet. 



The addition of vitamin E to the rations has also been found to produce a 

 growth-promoting activity in 5- to 7-month-old rats raised on a vitamin-E- 

 low diet. 2°'^^ This effect was shown by Olcott and Mattill'-- to occur in 

 late adolescence; it appears at a later age in the female than in the male. 

 Martin^^ is of the opinion that the antisterility and growth-promoting 

 effects are due to different factors; he was able to effect a partial separation 

 of the specific active components by fractional crystallization of vitamin E 

 concentrates. Such an effect is not surprising, in view of the demonstration 

 by Adamstone'-'' of the possible relation of this vitamin to cell division. 



One of the most important functions of vitamin E which can readily be 

 determined by studies in vitro is its antioxidant action. Thus, the destruc- 

 tive effect of ferrous sulfate on vitamin A'-^ can be prevented if the food is 

 mixed with wheat genn oil,^^ which is a rich source of vitamin E. Simul- 

 taneously, Mattill'-^ showed that diets which produced sterility were usually 

 subject to rapid development of rancidity. The addition of a wheat germ 

 oil concentrate, which was rich in vitamin E, prevented the oxidative ran- 

 cidity. 



The question of greatest importance at this stage of the development was 

 whether the antioxidant and antisterility effects of wheat germ oil are to be 



" F. B. Adamstone, ./. MorphoL, 52, 47-90 (1931). 



15 F. B. Adamstone, Anal. Record, 60, No. 4, Suppl., 36-37 (1934). 



" F. B. Adamstone and L. E. Card, /. MorphoL, 56, 339-359 (1934). 



17 M. Goettsch, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med., 27, 564-567 (1930). 



" A. M. Pappenheimer, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med., 27, 567-568 (1930). 



18 M. Goettsch and A. M. Pappenheimer, /. Exptl. Med., 54, 145-169 (1931). 

 2» H. M. Evans, /. Nutrition, 1, 23-28 (1928). 



21 G. A. Emerson and H. M. Evans, /. Nutrition, U, 169-178 (1937). 



22 H. S. Olcott and H. A. Mattill, J. Nutrition, 14, 305-315 (1937). 

 " G. J. Martin, ./. Nutrition, IS, 679-685 (1937). 



2^ F. B. Adamstone, Science, 80, 450 (1934). 



^ J. H. Jones, J. Biol. Chem., 75, 139-146 (1927). 



26 N. Simmonds, J. E. Becker, and E. V. McCollum, /. Am. Med. Assoc, 88, 1047- 

 1050 (1927). 



27 H. A. Mattill, J. Am. Med. Assoc, SO, 1505-1508 (1927). 



