Reproduction in Rats on Synthetic B-Complex Supplement. ∗

Abstract

Several members of the vitamin B complex are now available in synthetic form. In a search for unidentified nutritional factors, the following diet (diet R-1) was fed to black rats: sucrose, 60 g; casein, acid-washed, 25 g; hydrogenated cottonseed oil (“Crisco”), 8 g; salt mixture, 1 5 g; fish oil blend (3000-A, 400-D), 0.3 g; choline chloride, 50 mg; pantothenic acid, 2.8 mg;† nicotinic acid, 1.0 mg; riboflavin, 0.5 mg; thiamin, 0.2 mg; pyridoxine, 0.2 mg.‡ In addition, the rats received a weekly dose of 0.5 cc of corn oil mixed with 0.05 cc of shark liver oil containing 200,000 units of vitamin A per gram. In this diet, the fat-soluble factors are fed in a crude form, but the water-soluble factors are all synthetic and are fed at levels which were thought to be more than sufficient in each case. Nicotinic acid is not known to be needed by rats, but was fed as a precautionary measure. Growth on diet R-1 took place at about 60% of the normal rate for the strain for the first month, but at 80 days the rats had attained about 80% of normal weight.

In the first experiment 4 female rats were placed on diet R-l at weaning (19 days of age). After 76 days they were mated to males which had been reared on a stock diet. Three litters of 8, 6, and 6 offspring respectively were produced and were continued on diet R-1. Seven rats now survive from these litters and averaged 160 g in weight at 80 days. Six of the rats appeared normal and had black hair. The seventh, a male, was slightly grey. The young in this and the succeeding experiment were about 60% of normal weight at birth.