The Role of Coprophagy in the Availability of Vitamins Synthesized in the Intestinal Tract with Antibiotic Feeding

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Abstract
Oxytetracycline (100 mg/kg diet) alleviated pantothenic acid deficiency in normal as well as non-coprophagic rats, while penicillin (50 mg/kg diet) improved growth in rats fed a thiamine-limiting diet only when coprophagy was allowed, but not when it was prevented. Obviously, the production, rather than the absorption, of thiamine synthesized by the intestinal microflora was stimulated by penicillin; the thiamine thus produced was not available to the rat except by means of coprophagy. Under similar conditions, pantothenic acid was absorbed on its first passage through the intestinal tract.