Is Pantothenic Acid Essential for the Growth of Rats?

Abstract

The identification of the chick antidermatitis factor as panto-thenic acid 1 , 2 raises a question as to the need of this vitamin in the ration of rats. Lepkovsky, Jukes, and Krause 3 showed that rats required a factor in addition to riboflavin and vitamin B₆ and since it remained in the filtrate it was called the “filtrate factor.” Their preparations were also active for chicks. Elvehjem, Koehn and Oleson 4 demonstrated the need for an additional factor for rats which was designated as factor W. Factor W was separated rather completely from the chick factor (pantothenic acid) but no evidence was presented to show that the rats required the chick factor in addition to factor W. Recently Subbarow and Hitchings 5 have obtained evidence that the active factor in their filtrate preparations is pantothenic acid. El Sadr, et al., 6 have reported that their liver filtrate factor shows great resemblance to both pantothenic acid and factor W. Hoffer and Reichstein 7 have reported a growth response with β-alanine which they consider to be the active principle of pantothenic acid.

In our studies the following basal ration, which is similar to those used in our earlier work 8 has been used: sucrose 76%, purified casein 18%, salts IIP 4%, corn oil 2%, supplemented with 1.2 mg thiamin∗; 2.0 mg riboflavin, 2.5 mg synthetic vitamin B₆ ∗ (Merck), 300 mg nicotinic acid,∗ and 300 mg choline per kilo. Each rat received 2 drops of haliver oil∗ per week.

A relatively crude preparation of pantothenic acid was used, which was prepared in the following way.† The liver extract was made alkaline and treated with norit.