604 BIOTIN 



tiori containing egg white, the disease will develop in about 12 weeks. 

 Biotin and Ijiotin-containing food will correct the deficiency. 



G. MONKEYS 



Chronic biotin deficiency in monkeys produces a thinning of the fur 

 with accompanying progressive depigmentation of the hair.^^ Chronic and 

 more acute biotin deficiency may be cured in monkeys by biotin or biotin- 

 containing food products.'*^ ■ ^'' 



H. MAN 



The production of l)iotin deficiency has been attempted in human ^'olun- 

 teers.'*^' *^ Four volunteers were fed a diet containing minimal amounts of 

 biotin and 30 % of the total caloric intake in the foi'm of egg white. Tem- 

 porary fine scaly desquamations of the skin without pruritus appeared 

 during the third and fourth week; more marked maculosquamous derma- 

 titis became evident around the seventh week on the neck, hands, arms, 

 and legs of one of the volunteers. Later, during the ninth and tenth week, 

 all patients showed fine branny descjuamation, accompanied by mild de- 

 pression followed by extreme lassitude, somnolence, muscle pains, and 

 hyperesthesia. After the tenth week anorexia with occasional nausea be- 

 came evident. Slight anemia, a large increase of the serum cholesterol \eve\, 

 and a smaller rise in bile pigments were noticed. The urinary excretion of 

 biotin was reduced after 7 to 8 weeks to 3.5 to 7.3 y per day, as compared 

 with 29 to 52 y per day on a normal diet. Injection of biotin in doses of 

 75 to 300 7 per day was followed by prompt relief of the symptoms in 3 to 

 5 days, and the urinary excretion of biotin rose in the same time to 55 y 

 per day. 



Although the clinical syndrome observed in these volunteers receiv- 

 ing a diet low in protein was characterized by mild and rather unspecific 

 clinical manifestations, the observations recorded seem to favor the assump- 

 tion that biotin is an essential nutrient for man. The figures of urinary 

 excretion are in accord with this view. 



Less conclusive, although perhaps more interesting, is the observation 

 of an exfoliative dermatitis of several years duration in a (i6-year-old 

 patient with poor dietary habits.^" 



46 A. M. Phillips, Jr., and E. O. Rodgers, Progressive Fish Cxdturiat 12, 67 (1950). 

 ^f^H. A. Waisman, K. B. McCall, and C. A. Elvohjom, /. Nutrition 29, 1 (1945). 

 *' J. G. Lease, H. T. Parsons, and E. Kelly, Biochcm. J. 31, 433 (1937). 

 « V. P. Sydenstricker, S. A. Singal, A. P. Briggs, N. M. de Vaughn, and H. Isbell, 



Science 95, 176 (1942). 

 4' V. P. Sydenstricker, S. A. Singal, A. P. Briggs, N. M. de Vaughn, nnd II. Isl.cll. 



/. Ain. Med. Assoc. 118, 1199 (1942). 

 60 R. H. Williams, New Engl. J. Med. 228, 247 (1943). 



