Nutritional Dermatoses in the Rat Vi. The Effect of Pantothenic Acid Deficiency

Signs of deficiency, including cutaneous alterations, occur in rats and chicks which are fed purified diets low in the vitamin B complex and supplemented with the synthetic forms of thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinic acid and pyridoxine (vitamin B₆). If whole liver or yeast is substituted for the four vitamins there are no signs of deficiency. Therefore there are additional members of the vitamin B complex in the natural foodstuffs. One of these has been identified as pantothenic acid. Fractionation of "water-soluble vitamin B" was originally accomplished by autoclaving whole yeast.¹By this procedure the antineuritic fraction, vitamin B₁(thiamine), was destroyed, but the growth-promoting, "antidermatitic," heat-stable fraction, vitamin B₂(vitamin G), was unaffected. Later other methods of separation were introduced. Biologically active fractions were obtained in crude adsorbates, eluates and precipitates which were prepared from aqueous extracts of foods rich in the complex. Treatment of whole liver