IX. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY 653 



h. Blood Dyscrasias 



A second lesion, which has been observed in a few laboratories in panto- 

 thenic acid-deficient rats, is a fatal aplasia of the bone marrow with anemia, 

 leucopenia, and granulocytopenia.^-'-"^^ In 1937, before the isolation of 

 pantothenic acid, Gyorgy and coworkers'^ observed panmyelophthisis in 

 72 of 319 rats on various deficient diets. Twenty-four of the 72 animals had 

 hj^peremic and hemorrhagic adrenals. The authors stated that the panmye- 

 lophthisis was not cured or prevented by the known B vitamins available 

 (thiamine, riboflavin, and pyridoxine) or by a supposedly active filtrate 

 factor preparation. In \aew of subsequent investigations it appears very 

 probable that pantothenic acid in sufficient amount would have prevented 

 the appearance of the described syndrome even though it may not be a sign 

 of an uncomplicated pantothenic acid deficiency. Attempts to duplicate 

 the hematopoietic findings in other laboratories were unsuccessful until 

 1945 at which time Daft et al}^ and Carter and coworkers^^ described very 

 similar blood changes in rats receiving purified diets deficient in pantothenic 

 acid. Daft and coworkers reported that therapy with pantothenic acid was 

 usually unsuccessful unless folic acid also was administered. Adequate 

 amounts of pantothenic acid, but not of folic acid, prevented the develop- 

 ment of the blood dyscrasias. Carter et al. did not test folic acid but reported 

 that therapy with pantothenic acid was successful in only 25 % of their 

 animals. 



A surprising aspect of the situation is that this striking deficiency syn- 

 drome has been observed in so few of the laboratories which have studied 

 pantothenic acid deficiency in rats and that even in those few laboratories 

 its appearance apparently has been sporadic. It appears probable that 

 special conditions must be necessary, possibly the simultaneous deficiency 

 of other food essentials. 



c. Achromotrichia 



A third aspect of pantothenic acid deficiency in black, hooded, or brown 

 rats is achromotrichia or graying of the hair. Morgan and coworkers^^ and 

 Lunde and Kringstad^^ showed that this condition could be prevented or 

 corrected by the inclusion of filtrate factor concentrates in the diet. This 



22 F. S. Daft, A. Kornberg, L. L. Ashburn, and W. H. Sebrell, Public Health Repts. 

 (U.S.) 60, 1201 (1945). 



23 L. L. Ashburn, F. S. Daft, and R. R. Faulkner, Blood 2, 451 (1947). 



2« C. W. Carter, R. G. Macfarlane, J. R. P. O'Brien, and A. H. T. Robb-Smith, 



Biochem. J. 39, 339 (1945). 

 25 A. F. Morgan, B. B. Cook, and H. G. Davison, /. Nutrition 15, 27 (1938). 

 2* G. Lunde and H. Kringstad, Avhandl. Norske Videnskaps — Akad. Oslo. I Mat. 



Naiurv. Kl, No. 1 (1938). 



