Cisternal and Intraventricular Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressures in Chronic Bovine Hypervitaminosis A

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Abstract
Eighteen Holstein male calves, average age 96 days and average plasma vitamin A 6.4 [mu]g/100 ml, were fed daily vitamin A intakes of either 18, 54, 4,000 or 12,000 [mu]g/454 g of live weight for 12-weeks. Feed intake and growth were less in calves fed the 2 higher intakes. Clinical signs of hypervitaminosis A were observed in calves fed the 12,000 intake, but only hyperemia of the inguinal skin in calves fed 4,000. Total weight as well as weight per unit of live weight of the adrenals were greater in calves fed the 2 higher intakes. Cisternal and intraventricular cerebrospinal fluid pressures were lower in calves fed the 2 higher intakes, but within the individual calves the pressures at the 2 sites were not appreciably different. It is tentatively concluded that the lower pressures observed in the hypervitaminotic A calves were not due to obstruction or blockage, or both, between the ventricules and the cisternal subarachnoid space.