Vitamin A deficiency in the domestic fowl
- 1 October 1957
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Portland Press Ltd. in Biochemical Journal
- Vol. 67 (2) , 215-223
- https://doi.org/10.1042/bj0670215
Abstract
Young male chicks (Light Sussex breed) placed on a vitamin A-deficient diet became unsteady on their legs in the 4th week and soon afterwards died. The kidneys were pale and showed deposits of urates. There was, however, no loss of appetite or weight, no xerophthalmia or lesions in the tracea or esophagus. Older birds (Brown Leghorn breed) of both sexes were put on a vitamin A-deficient diet at 16 weeks of age. Control birds were given vitamin A as a supplement. Deficiency symptoms began to appear after 7 weeks of deprivation; the males suffered recurring brief loss of consciousness and the females found difficulty in standing. Epithelial lesions were a late symptom. Sexual development was greatly retarded in both sexes. Various tissues (liver, kidney, intestine) were obtained from the young chicks and from control birds and the unsaponifiable fractions were examined by chromatographic and spectrophoto-metric methods. The rise in SA and SC (2 spectroscopically recognizable compounds of unknown composition) which occurs in vitamin A-deficient rat tissue did not appear in the chick tissues. Similar study of tissues (liver, kidney, intestine, gizzard, esophagus and crop, trachea) from older birds of both sexes made vitamin A deficient revealed no real difference in respect to SA, SC, total sterol, 7-dehydrocholesterol and cholesta-3:5-dien-7-one between the controls and the deprived birds. Preliminary work on gizzard muscle and lining showed the presence of cholesta-3:5-dien-7-one in both tissues.Keywords
This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit:
- Aspects of vitamin A deficiency in the ratBiochemical Journal, 1957
- The vitamin A-deficiency syndrome in the rat.1955
- Effect of Vitamin A Deficiency on the Cerebro-spinal Fluid Pressure of the ChickNature, 1955
- Hydrocephalus in Young Rabbits Associated with Maternal Vitamin A DeficiencyBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1954
- Aspects of Vitamin a Deficiency in RatsNature, 1953
- Activity of Citrovorum Factor it or the Chick.Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1952
- PATHOLOGIC LESIONS IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM OF THE DUCK FED A RATION DEFICIENT IN VITAMIN-A1952
- EFFECT OF HYPERVITAMINOSIS-A AND HYPOVITAMINOSIS-A ON THE SKELETON OF A DUCK1951
- Vitamin A and bone growth: the reversibility of vitamin A-deficiency changes.1947
- The experimental production of deafness in young animals by dietThe Journal of Physiology, 1938