570 NIACIN 



rather marked dermatitis noted in some of the early work of Briggs and 

 associates** has not been found in more recent studies where the diets were 

 more adequately supplemented with vitamins other than nicotinic acid. 

 Nicotinic acid-deficient turkey poults exhibited similar findings.*^"*^ 



Nicotinic acid-deficient ducks show^ diminished weight gain, weakness, 

 and diarrhea. In some of the birds there was an accumulation of food 

 under the tongue and necrotic tissue beneath this.*^ 



7. Other Species 



Cats have been reported to develop a disease in nature which resembles 

 canine blacktongue and which responds to nicotinic acid.*^ Nicotinic acid- 

 deficient foxes showed cessation of weight gain and anorexia, and, if the 

 deficiency was severe, they developed symptoms similar to blacktongue.^" 

 Rainbow trout developed swollen gills when deprived of nicotinic acid,^^ 



B. IN MAN 



SundwalP^ and Harris^* have reviewed the European and early American 

 literature up to about 1915. These authors and, more recently, Denton,^* 

 Moore et al.,^^ and Follis^^ have published their observations of the pathol- 

 ogy of pellagra in the United States. 



The usual pathological features of pellagra in this country include 

 changes in the skin, oral cavity, esophagus, colon, nervous system, and 

 blood. Skin from clinically involved areas shows dilatation of blood vessels, 

 some rarefaction of tissue, hyperkeratosis, parakeratosis, acanthosis, and, 

 in severe cases, bullae. The sebaceous glands may be atrophic, although 

 the sweat glands appear normal. Abnormalities of keratinization may be 

 found in clinically normal skin. The mucous membrane of the mouth, 

 tongue, esophagus, vagina, and colon show somewhat similar changes with 



44 G. M. Briggs, Jr., T. D. Luckey, L. J. Teply, C. A. Elvehjem, and E. B. Hart, 

 J. Biol. Chem. 148, 517 (1943). 



45 G. M. Briggs, J. Nutrition 31, 79 (1946). 



46 T. H. Jukes, E. L. R. Stokstad, and M. Belt, /. Nutrition 33, 1 (1947). 

 4' B. G. Lance and A. G. Hogan, /. Nutrition 36, 369 (1948). 



48 D. M. Hegsted, J. Nutrition 32, 467 (1946). 



49 M. K. Heath, J. W. MacQueen, and T. D. Spies, Science 92, 514 (1940). 



60 A. E. Schaefer, C. K. Whitehair, and C. A. Elvehjem, J. Nutrition 34, 131 (1947). 

 " B. A. McLaren, E. B. Keller, D. J. O'Donnell, and C. A. Elvehjem, Arch. Bio- 



chem. 15, 169 (1947). 

 62 J. Sundwall, U. S. Public Health Service Hyg. Lab. Bull. 106, 5-74 (1917). 

 " H. F. Harris, Pellagra, pp. 138-180. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1919. 

 64 J. Denton, Am. J. Trop. Med. 5, 173 (1925). 

 66 R. A. Moore, T. D. Spies, and Z. K. Cooper, Arch. Dermatol and Syphilol. 46, 100 



(1942). 

 66 R. H. Follis, Jr., The Pathology of Nutritional Disease, p. 169. Charles C Thomas, 



Springfield, 111., 1948. 



