IX. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY 669 



The pantothenic acid content of the urine of the horse is influenced by 

 the amount of pantothenic acid in the diet, although this vitamin does not 

 appear to be low in natural-type diets for this species. ^^"*' ^^^ As yet, there 

 is no proof that this vitamin is needed in the diet of the horse at any stage 

 of growth. 



Studies with the growing rabbit show that dietary pantothenic acid may 

 not be needed (Olcese et alP^). The rabbit is knoAvn to consume a consider- 

 able amount of soft, or night, feces which contain a large amount of panto- 

 thenic acid (50 7/g.) produced by synthesis within the gastrointestinal 

 tract. ^" The pantothenic acid content of the soft feces is approximately six 

 times as great as the content of hard feces. ^^^ These facts probably account 

 for the apparent non-essentiality of dietary pantothenic acid for the rabbit. 



B. IN MAN 

 ELAINE P. RALLI 



1. Introduction 



Up to the present, no definite pathological lesions due to a deficiency of 

 pantothenic acid have been described in the human being. This is in contrast 

 to the detailed description of the pathological effects of a deficiency of this 

 vitamin in experimental animals.^^^"-"'-^ In view of the paucity of pathological 

 data in man, the only approaches open to a reviewer are, first, to examine 

 those conditions in which pantothenic acid has been used therapeuti- 

 cally and, second, to examine the pathological findings reported in situa- 

 tions of gross deficiency in human subjects and see wherein these might 

 compare with the pathological lesions described in experimental animals 

 on pantothenate-deficient diets. For this reason the pathological findings 

 in pantothenic acid-deficient animals are listed briefly. 



2. Summary of the Pathological Findings in Animals Fed Diets 

 Deficient in Pantothenic Acid 



a. Atrophy of the hair follicles and bulbs and loss of melanin with re- 

 sulting graying of the fur.^^^' ^o^ Rusting of the fur and porphyrin-caked 



1^^ P. B. Pearson and H. Schmidt, Federation Proc. 1, 191 (1945). 



195 p. B. Pearson and H. Schmidt, /. Animal Sci. 7, 78 (1948). 



196 O. Olcese, P. B. Pearson, and B. S. Schweigert, /. Nutrition 35, 577 (1940). 

 1" R. Kulwich, L. Struglia, and P. B. Pearson, J. Nutrition 49, 639 (1953). 



"8 L. L. Ashburn, Public Health Repts. (U.S.) 55, 1337 (1940). 



199 A. F. Morgan and H. D. Simms, Science 89, 565 (1939). 



2o» W. D. Salmon and R. W. Engel, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 45, 621 (1940). 



''"I F. S. Daft and W. H. Sebrell, Public Health Repts. {U.S.) 54, 2247 (1939). 



202 H. W. Deane and J. M. McKibbin, Endocrinology 38, 385 (1946). 



2»3 E. P. Ralli and I. Graef, Endocrinology 32, 1 (1943). 



