Effect of Vitamins B and G on Coccidian Infection in the Rat

Abstract

The writers 1 recently reported their discovery that the number of oocysts eliminated by rats infected with Eimeria miyairii after the host had been for 9 days on a diet deficient in both vitamins B and G was only one-fourth to one-fifth that in the reference series which received a so-called normal diet. The present study was made to determine whether the observed effect was due to the absence of one or both of the vitamins.

The basal ration was as follows: Extracted casein, 18%; normal (Harris') salt mixture, 3.7%; butter, 4.0%; cod liver oil, 1.0%; bacto-agar, 2.0%; beet sugar, 71.3%. The vitamin-B deficient ration consisted of the basal ration with 12 of the 71.3 parts of sugar replaced with powdered (Fleischmann's) yeast that had been autoclaved for more than 3 hours at 120°C. and dried. The control or reference diet for the rats on the vitamin-B deficient diet consisted of the basal ration with 10 parts of the sugar replaced with the same yeast unautoclaved. The vitamin-G deficient ration consisted of the basal ration plus 1 cc. of wheat germ extract. The latter was equivalent to 2 gm. of the wheat germ. Its preparation will be described in a later paper. The reference diet for the rats receiving the vitamin-G deficient ration consisted of the basal diet with 10 parts of sugar replaced with autoclaved yeast and, likewise, one cc. of wheat germ extract each day.

Experiment I. On October 31 nine rats were started on the vitamin-B deficient ration. One November 14, 15, 16 and 18 each rat received about 2100 sporulated oocysts of Eimeria miyairii. The reference series was started on the control diet the same day, and infected on the same days and in the same way as the deficient series.