Differentiation between Vitamin B 4 Deficiency and “Encephalomalacia”in Growing Chicks

Abstract

We 1 described a deficiency disease in growing White Leghorn chicks which was corrected by concentrates of Reader's vitamin B₄. The main symptoms described were lack of growth and incoordination which resulted in extreme difficulty in locomotion. Accompanying the lack of coordination of the muscles and disturbed gait was a tendency of the bird to fall upon its side with the legs in tension and pulled against the abdomen. Examination of the brains of a number of the deficient birds revealed gross lesions in the cerebrum and degeneration which could be observed histologically in both the cerebrum and cerebellum. At that time we stated that the condition encountered was probably the same as that observed in chicks by Pappenheimer and Goettsch 2 and designated by them as an “encephalomalacia”. This conclusion was based largely on the histological preparations of the tissues from our animals with the comparison of the histological preparations of the tissues from our animals with the histological results of Pappenheimer and Goettsch. During the continuation of our studies on deficiency diseases in chicks we have encountered another type of paralysis, the gross symptoms of which are distinctly different from those observed in vitamin B₄ deficiency. We have observed this condition upon a number of different rations, and have had some success in the development of a ration which will produce the condition in 100% of the birds. Only those rations which allow considerable growth will produce a large incidence of the disease. It is more likely that this condition is the encephalomalacia described by Pappenheimer and Goettsch. Very probably our observations on brain degeneration in what we called vitamin B₄ deficiency were complicated by changes due to encephalomalacia.