Abstract
In order to determine the influence of uncomplicated vitamin B deficiency on the alkaline reserve of the blood of nursing young of the albino rat, 84 nursing young, whose mothers received stock diet No. 6† were sacrificed during the later part of the lactation period, and the carbon dioxide volume per cent determined on blood secured from the carotid artery. We used the manometric method of Van Slyke and Neill 2 on samples of 0.1 cc. of plasma.
Since in the pathological nursling there has been, because of stunting of growth, a considerable prolongation of the nursing period, 6 additional animals on maternal stock diet No. 6, 32 days of age, were taken during the post-lactation period. The range of carbon dioxide volume per cent found was 37 to 65.
The 72 pathological animals examined were in a condition of prolonged maintenance, or in a condition of prolonged maintenance accompanied by incipient polyneuritis. The avitaminosis of the nurslings was produced on maternal diet 1438, 3 adequate in every respect with the exception of vitamin B. Only 4 pathological animals showed a deviation from the normal which occurred during the last stages of polyneuritis. These results are in agreement with the findings of Sure and Smith 4 on growing and adult rats.
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