Neuromalacia Associated with Low Riboflavin Diets, a Preliminary Report

RECENT advances in the knowledge of the dietary factors concerned in the nutrition of the chick have made it possible to study various forms of paralysis in this species. Hogan, Guerrant, and Kempster (1925) observed a leg disorder in chicks which was thought to be a vitamin B1 deficiency. Later Hogan et al (1928) reported paralysis, in the chick unassocated with rickets or a mineral deficiency, which in certain cases was prevented by yeast. Norris, Heuser, and Wilgus (1930) described paralytic symptoms and curled toes in the chick and suggested that milk contained an essential dietary factor for the prevention of this type of paralysis. This observation was further substantiated by Norris, Heuser, Wilgus, and Ringrose (1930) and corroborated by the studies of Bethke, Record, and Kennard (1931). Ringrose et al (1931) obtained a nutritional paralysis in chicks on diets which caused a pellagra-like syndrome. Bethke, Record, and Wilder (1936 . . .