Abstract
Smith and Hendrick 1 and Goldberger, Wheeler, Lillie, and Rogers 2 of the U. S. Public Health Service showed that the vitamin B value of yeast, as then understood, was due, in part, to the antineuritic substance which was destroyed by autoclaving, and, in part, to a more heat-stable factor which was able to withstand autoclaving. The term “autoclaving” is used advisedly, since evidence submitted by Kennan, Kline and Elvehjem 3 indicates that the antineuritic factor is more stable to dry heat than is the factor which withstands autoclaving. Goldberger and his associates demonstrated to the satisfaction of most investigators that pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease, apparently due to a lack of the factor in yeast which is uninjured by autoclaving. Since canine blacktongue develops on the same type of deficiency which produces pellagra, is characterized by similar symptoms and is cured by the same food factors, it is reasonable to conclude that it is an analog of pellagra. Consequently many tests for curative factors have been carried out on dogs suffering from artificially produced blacktongue.
The observation by Elvehjem, Madden, Strong, and Woolley 4 that nicotinic acid (the simple pyridine carboxylic acid) would cure blacktongue in dogs has been corroborated by Dann, 5 Street and Cowgill, 6 It was soon demonstrated that it had a similar curative value in human pellagra by Fouts, Helmer, Lepkovsky and Juke, 7 Smith, Ruffin and Smith, 8 and Spies. 9
The question naturally arises as to whether or not the curative properties of nicotinic acid are decreased or destroyed by autociaving. The following experiments were designed to answer this question:
Ten dogs were allowed to develop blacktongue on a modification of Goldberger's diet No. 123, as used in this laboratory, the details of which were published recently by Smith, Persons and Harvey.”
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