Utilization of Vitamin B 1 From Fullers' Earth Adsorbates

Abstract

We reported 1 our results with various methods of eluting vitamin B₁ from the international standard acid clay. The outcome of these experiments indicated that the vitamin on the acid clay was not entirely available to the test animal since the quinine sulfate extract was more effective than the clay itself in causing a remission of the symptoms of polyneuritis in rats. The experiments here reported were carried out to confirm those observations with a fuller's earth adsorbate of the vitamin.

One hundred cubic centimeters of a solution of crystalline vitamin B₁ containing 2500 curative doses, as determined by the Ammerman and Waterman 2 modification of the Smith curative procedure, were treated with 20 gm. of English fuller's earth. The recovered fuller's earth after careful drying weighed 22 gm. The filtrate, together with a portion of this fuller's earth, was set aside for direct feeding to the test animals. Another portion of the earth adsorbate was extracted with quinine sulfate after the method of Williams, et al. 3 Table I gives the results of our assay of these preparations.

These data show that the vitamin was completely removed by the fuller's earth since the spent nitrate from the adsorption was practically devoid of vitaminic activity. When a comparison of the original vitamin solution with the fuller's earth adsorbate prepared from it is made, it appears that some 900 doses were lost in the simple process of adsorption. However, the results obtained with the quinine sulfate extract of this fuller's earth indicate a complete recovery of the vitamin.

The fact that only about 60% of the vitamin can be accounted for when the activated fuller's earth is administered directly makes it apparent that the vitamin B₁ depleted rats cannot fully utilize the vitamin present in preparations such as fuller's earth adsorbates. This is in agreement with our results with the international standard.