368 INOSITOLS 



with one vitamin in one case may have stimulated the intestinal synthesis 

 of the other. This would mean that the spectacled eye condition could be 

 due to a biotin deficiency, but in the work of Pavcek and Baum^'^ the in- 

 ositol may have acted indirectly in stimulating the intestinal synthesis of 

 biotin. This postulation is strengthened by the finding of Lindley and 

 Cunha^° that inositol alleviated to a large extent the deficiency symptoms 

 prevented by biotin with the pig fed a purified diet. Cunha et alP reported 

 an alopecia in rats reared on a natural diet composed chiefly of corn and 

 soybean meal which could be prevented and cured by inositol. The hair 

 loss started in the dorsal part of the head and proceeded bilaterally along 

 the sides to the tail region and then downward to the hind legs. With inositol 

 therapy the hair returned inversely, proceeding from the caudal portions 

 forward. Of interest is the finding that the hair loss did not occur until 

 pyridoxine and a folic acid preparation were added to the control ration. 

 The addition of these two factors caused a decrease in growth and the 

 development of the alopecia. This may have been due to some imbalance, 

 some interrelationship of the vitamins, some change in intestinal synthesis, 

 or to other unknown causes. Spitzer and Phillips,^^ using a sucrose-soybean 

 oil meal ration, produced an alopecia in the rat similar to that observed by 

 Cunha et al}^ The hair loss was prevented by supplementation with inositol 

 or biotin or with both. However, the hair loss did not occur if the ration 

 contained added cystine or methionine. They also stated that, whereas 

 low levels (1 to 4 7) of biotin have been shown to prevent the loss of hair, 

 higher levels (12 7) of this vitamin may actually accentuate the condition. 

 The hair loss resulting from feeding the high level of biotin was prevented 

 by supplementation with adequate inositol. No explanatation is available 

 for their results, but, undoubtedly, the ultimate answer will be of con- 

 siderable interest. Nielsen and Black-^ also found that inositol prevents 

 the development of a symmetrical alopecia in the rat fed a purified ration 

 plus sulfasuxidine. The sulfonomide in some way brought out a need for 

 inositol. It must be pointed out that in many experiments rats are fed 

 purified diets apparently free of inositol and they do not develop spectacled 

 eye or alopecia. An example is the report of Ershoff,^^ who found that 

 inositol and PABA, in combination or separately, had no effect on growth 

 of rats fed a purified diet. Thus, it appears that under special conditions the 

 type of diet influences the need for inositol by the rat. Under ordinary 

 conditions it is of no benefit, but occasionally the diet is such that a need 



20 D. C. Lindley, and T. J. Cunha, /. Nutrition 32, 47 (1946). 



21 T. J. Cunha, S. Kirkwood, P. H. Phillips, and G. Bohstedt, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. 

 Med. 54, 236 (1943). 



22 R. R. Spitzer and P. H. Phillips, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 63, 10 (1946). 

 " E. Nielsen and A. Black, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 55, 14 (1944). 



24 B. H. Ershoff, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 56, 190 (1944). 



