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The Vitamin B₆ Requirement of the Male Rat as Determined by Behavioral Patterns, Brain Pyridoxal Phosphate and Nucleic Acid Composition and Erythrocyte Alanine Aminotransferase Activity^1,2,

Departments of Nutrition and Foods and of Psychology, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36830

Dams received diets containing 0 to 90 µg of pyridoxine 3 weeks prior to mating and during gestation and lactation. Offspring of the 0 µg group failed to survive. Male pups received the same levels of pyridoxine as their respective dams. Half of each litter was evaluated at weaning and half at sexual maturity. General activity and curiosity responses tended to plateau at the 30 to 45 µg intake levels. There were no significant differences in maze performance. Body and brain weights as well as brain DNA, RNA, and protein compositions seemed to reach a plateau at the 30 µg pyridoxine level. Brain pyridoxal phosphate levels were significantly lower in animals that received 15 µg pyridoxine daily than in those receiving higher intakes. No significant differences in brain pyridoxal kinase activities were observed. Erythrocyte alanine aminotransferase activities were significantly lower in rats receiving 15 and 30 µg of the vitamin than in those receiving higher levels. On the basis of these parameters, the vitamin B₆ requirement of weanling and sexually mature rats appeared to be approximately 45 µg daily. Behavioral and biochemical assessments of this requirement were in general agreement and were mutually supportive.

KEY WORDS: • vitamin B₆ requirement • curiosity of rats • general activity measurements of rats • brain pyridoxal phosphate composition

¹ Supported in part by Alabama Agriculture Experiment Station and University Grants-in-Aid 70–71 and 71–72.

² These data were presented in part at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Atlantic City, New Jersey, April 1972 (Federation Proc. 51: 723 (abstr.)).

³ Present address: Department of Food and Nutrition, School of Home Economics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32302.

⁴ Present address: Social Security Service, Birmingham, Alabama 35222.

Manuscript received 5 September 1972.

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