A Protozoological Method for Detecting Clinical Vitamin B6Deficiency

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A direct assay of circulating or available levels of vitamin B6 in human biologic fluids and tissues is described. The organism used was the ciliate protozoan Tetrahymena pyriformis, an organism which responds only to the mammalian active vitamers of vitamin B6 and hence is a better measure of the status of the vitamin in man as compared with chemical or enzymatic procedures. Application of the assay in subjects with a variety of metabolic disorders, including two patients maintained on total food and vitamin deprivation and five patients with vitamin B6 deficiency anemia, is described.

This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit: