508 V. BLOOD LIPIDS 



vitamin A level in the blood, it is possible that this association may account 

 for the failure of carotene to be metabolized in diabetes. 



(6) The Relationship of Acetonemia to Plasma Vitamin A. Patton 935 

 was the first to demonstrate that a high serum carotene (620 microgram per 

 cent) obtains in acetonemia of cattle, while the vitamin A in the plasma is 

 extremely low (1.2 microgram per cent). This would seem to indicate that 

 the high carotene and the low vitamin A value in the plasma result from 

 an inability of the cow to transform the provitamin A to vitamin A. Mac- 

 kay, 936 Patton, 935 - 937 and Burt 938 have been able to treat acetonemia of 

 cattle successfully by the administration of vitamin A. This resulted in 

 increased levels of blood vitamin A and in a decrease in blood carotene. 

 The question arises as to whether or not vitamin A deficiency per se or the 

 inability to convert carotene to vitamin A is the cause of acetonemia. 



(c) The Effect of Liver Disease on Plasma Carotene and Vitamin A. 

 Not only is the carotenemia in diabetes mellitus ascribable to an upset in 

 liver function, but also conditions in which liver damage is the primary 

 lesion may exhibit abnormalities in plasma carotene and vitamin A. 

 Harris and Moore 844 reported a level of 16.4 microgram per cent of plasma 

 vitamin A in hepatitis, which increased to 35.4 microgram per cent when a 

 cure was effected. Fiessinger et a/., 939 - 940 Popper and associates, 941 and 

 Haig and Patek 942 reported low vitamin A levels in cases of liver damage 

 in man. Furthermore, the response is depressed when vitamin A is ad- 

 ministered. 836 - 941 ' 942 



(d) The Effect of Miscellaneous Diseases on Plasma Carotene and Vitamin 

 A . Somewhat lower than normal carotene and vitamin A levels have been 

 reported by Abels and co-workers 840 in the plasma of fifty-one patients who 

 had cancer of the gastrointestinal tract. Ikegaki 943 noted that the blood 

 carotene was reduced in all forms of leprosy; on the other hand, the serum 

 vitamin A levels were reduced only in lepra nervorum and in lepra tuberosa, 

 while they remained normal in lepra maculosa. 



Krause and Pierce 862 were unable to demonstrate any appreciable differ- 

 ences in the fasting level of plasma carotene or of plasma vitamin A, or in 

 the blood levels following the administration of 7500 or 15,000 /zg. of vita- 



935 J. W. Patton, Vet. Med., 39, 271-278 (1944). 



936 J. Mackay, Vet. Record, 55, 455 (1943). 



937 J. W. Patton, Vet. Med., 39, 150-153 (1944). 



938 A. C. Burt, Can. J. Comp. Med. Vet. Sci., 8, 187-188 (1944). 



939 N. Fiessinger and H. Torres, Compt. rend. soc. biol., 135, 636-637 (1941). 



940 N. Fiessinger, H. Torres, and A. Gasnier, Compt. rend. soc. biol., 135, 697-698 (1941). 



941 H. Popper, F. Steigmann, and S. Zevin, /. Clin. Invest., 22, 775-783 (1943). 



942 C. Haig and A. J. Patek, Jr., J. Clin. Invest., 21, 309-317 (1942). 



943 I. Ikegaki, Z. Vitaminforsch., 6, 206-209 (1937). 



