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Influence of Pyridoxine Supplementation on Vitamin B-6 Levels in Milk of Rats Deficient in the Vitamin^1,2,

Department of Foods and Nutrition, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907

Levels of vitamin B-6 in milk from pyridoxine deficient dams were used as an indicator of the ability of pyridoxine to protect offspring against the effects of the deficiency. Sprague Dawley rats were fed a basal diet containing 30.0 (control) or 1.2 (deficient) mg pyridoxine·HCl/kg diet from weaning throughout growth, gestation and until 5 days post-partum. At this time, deficient dams were supplemented by a single intraperitoneal injection of 600 µg pyridoxine·HCl, or by adding 30 or 60 mg pyridoxine·HCl/kg to the diet. The vitamin B-6 content in milk from the group supplemented by injection exceeded the control level of 38.8 µg/100 ml milk 30 minutes after the injection, and reached a peak level of 110.7 µg/100 ml at 4 hours with a subsequent decline to 27 µg/100 ml at 20 hours. In rats supplemented orally with 30 or 60 mg pyridoxine·HCl/kg diet, the vitamin B-6 level in the milk reached the control value in 24 and 6 hours, respectively. At 120 hours, orally supplemented dams had significantly higher levels of vitamin B-6 in the milk than control animals. Vitamin supplementation of dams by a single injection of pyridoxine·HCl was sufficient to overcome the pyridoxine deficiency syndrome in the pups, but was not adequate for optimum growth.

KEY WORDS: • pyridoxine • lactation • supplementation

¹ Paper No. 5979 of the Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station, West Lafayette, Ind. 47907.

² Presented at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in the Institute of Nutrition. Atlantic City, New Jersey, April 1975. Abstract No. 3933.

Manuscript received 3 September 1975.