VI. BIOGENESIS 357 



diet for 4 weeks after weaning showed an increase in the inositol content 

 of their tissues from a total of 3.4 mg. at weaning to 8.6 mg. after 4 weeks 

 on the experimental diet. However, when the experimental diet was de- 

 ficient in pantothenic acid as well as in inositol, there was no increase in 

 the total inositol content of the animals. Woolley compared the intestinal 

 flora of the mice which recovered spontaneously from the inositol deficiency 

 symptoms (alopecia) with the flora from mice which retained the symptoms 

 and found that in the first case the flora had the ability to synthesize ino- 

 sitol but in the latter case they did not. It would appear, therefore, that in 

 the mouse at least the intestinal flora can synthesize all the inositol re- 

 quired b}' the animal, provided that sufficient pantothenic acid is pro- 

 vided for normal growth of the intestinal organisms. 



It was observed-^ that the inositol content of hen's eggs increased from 

 73 to 45G 7 per gram of tissue during 23 days of incubation. This increase 



TABLE VI 

 Change in Inositol Content of Eggs 



is apparently not due to synthesis of inositol by the egg tissues but rather 

 to the liberation of inositol from a bound form. This liberation of bound 

 inositol was demonstrated by Woolley,-* who determined both the free 

 and bound inositol in the incubated eggs. The results of this experiment 

 are shown in Table VI. 



Although there has not yet been a clear-cut demonstration of the syn- 

 thesis of inositol by animal tissues, an interconversion of inositol and glu- 

 cose has been reported.^* m/yo-Inositol labeled with deuterium was fed to 

 phlorizinized rats, and the deuterium content of the urinary glucose was 

 determined. The high deuterium content of the glucose indicated its for- 

 mation from inositol, but since the location of the deuterium in the glucose 

 was not determined the significance of the observation has been ques- 

 tioned. ^^^ " 



" E. E. Siioll :uul E. Quarlcs, ./. Natrition 22, 483 (1941). 

 "D. W. Woolley, Proc. Soc. Expll. Biol. Med. 49, 540 (1942). 

 " M. R. Stetten and D. Stetten, Jr., J. Biol. Chem. 164, 85 (1946). 

 2«T. Posterruik, Bull. soc. chim. biol. 33, 1041 (1951). 

 " W. H. Schopfer, Bull. soc. chim. biol. 33, 1113 (1951). 



