284 



ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS 



deficiency by supplementation with either pyridoxine or hnoleate caused 

 an increase in body fat and an increase in polyunsaturated acids. These 

 results indicated that a fat-deficient rat could synthesize unsaturated acids 

 if given pyridoxine. 



Kummerow et al}^ made a similar study with linolenate and pyridoxine 

 and observed that doubly deficient rats given linolenate showed lower gains 

 and worsened symptoms than did unsupplemented controls. When pyri- 

 doxine was present in the diet, more polyimsaturated acid was present in 

 the tissues. 



Experiments in the author's laboratory indicate that total arachidonate 

 and hexaenoate in rats remains low when weanling animals are kept on a 

 at-deficient diet or a diet deficient in fat and pyridoxine. Preliminary 



Fig. 5. Severe acrodjmia in the rat. (Jiirgens et aL^') 



experiments showed that supplementation with either pyridoxine or Hno- 

 leate caused increases in arachidonate and hexaenoate and that, when 

 linoleate plus pyridoxine is administered to the animals, greater increases 

 in arachidonate and hexaenoate are observed.^" The same was true for 

 linolenate. 



A more extensive study of the pyridoxine-essential fatty acid relationship 

 has recently been completed. ^^ Rats which had been on a doubly deficient 

 diet one month after weaning age were given supplements of pyridoxine, 

 linoleate, pyridoxine plus linoleate, linolenate, or pyridoxine plus linolenate 

 for an 8-week period. Deficiency symptoms disappeared with linoleate 

 feeding but disappeared more rapidly with linoleate plus pyridoxine. Ani- 

 mals fed linolenate developed even worse symptoms, a finding parallel to 

 Kummerow's observations on weights. Linolenate plus pyridoxine caused 



18 F. A. Kummerow, E. Otto, G. Jacobson and P. Randolph, Trans. 4ih Conf. oji Biol. 



Antioxidants, New York (1949). 

 " P. W. Witten and R. T. Holman Arch. Biochem. and Biophys. 41, 266 (1952), 



