Abstract
Summary
1. In otherwise adequate diets complete or partial deficiency of riboflavin, pantothenic acid, thiamin or pyridoxin depresses the thymus weight of female albino rats below that of normally grown controls of corresponding body weight. 2. With complete deficiency of any one of the four factors mentioned, there is mild to marked atrophy of the thymus which may however be referable to losses in body weight. 3. On a diet partially deficient in thiamin which produces small but continuous body weight increases, thymus growth may be arrested for the four weeks duration of the experiment while under similar conditions partial pyridoxin deficiency produces marked atrophy.
The observations all refer to an age range before “age involution” sets changes would be classed under the term “accidental involution”. They occurred in rats each of which received 10 mg of choline hydrochloride per day.
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