Dietary Production of Specific Syndrome of Deficiency in Vitamin B 6 . ∗ †

Abstract

As a result of recently reported work from many laboratories it appears certain that the factor formerly known as vitamin G (B₂) is a complex—one member of which is flavin and the other a relatively heat- and alkali-stable factor. Lack of this second factor leads to a “specific'form of dermatitis described in detail by Chick and co-workers, 1 György 2 and others.

Some difficulty, however, has been noted in various laboratories in inducing this particular dermatitis. The Sherman-Bourquin diet 3 has been found very successful in general, particularly when the added precaution has been taken of using the Page anticoprophagy harness. 4 However, György noted that different results were obtained when different lots of wheat were used. Hogan and Richardson 5 have shown that cornstarch contains an alcohol-soluble substance which cured dermatitis in their rats when they were given a diet of casein, sucrose, salts, cod liver oil and cellulose, plus an irradiated aqueous extract of yeast. If the diet contained starch in place of sucrose no dermatitis developed. The condition was also cured by wheat germ oil.

One of us has used the Sherman-Bourquin diet over a period of some years and has not had difficulty in inducing the dermatitis and cessation of growth. However, several attempts to repeat this in this laboratory have proved unsuccessful, even when harnesses were used. The rats when receiving no additional supplement to the basal diet (“negative control rats”) continued to grow and showed no skin abnormalities. It was then suspected that the wheat was unusually rich in the B₂ factors and that they were extracted along with vitamin B₁ by the alcohol. We were fortunate in receiving from Merck and Company some vitamin B₁ crystals as well as a highly potent concentrate from rice polish.