Pteroylglutamic Acid Requirement of the Rat and a Characteristic Lesion Observed in the Spleen of the Deficient Animal

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Abstract
Twenty-one-day-old Wistar rats, fed a PGA-deficient ration containing 2% SST as inhibitor, developed marked deficiency symptoms in an average of three to 4 weeks on the ration. Full remission of the depletion symptoms was obtained by administration of 5 µg of PGA 6 times per week during a period of 5 weeks. Levels of PGA below this amount induced partial remission of some, or all, the symptoms at rates that were roughly proportional to the level of PGA fed to the animals. A characteristic lesion, hitherto undescribed, consisting of infarction of the spleen, was observed in a high percentage of the PGA-deficient animals. No such lesion was found in animals that had received 5 µg or more of pteroylglutamic acid per day as a dietary supplement during a period of 5 weeks subsequent to depletion.
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