QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Goldhaber, P. Articles by Kinsey, V. E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Goldhaber, P. Articles by Kinsey, V. E.

Vitamin E Deficiency in Chicks

II. Plasma Xanthophyll Levels and Vitamin E Deficiency Symptoms¹

Four Figures

Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston

1. Oral supplements of crude xanthophyll prevented the appearance of deficiency symptoms in 23 of 48 chicks raised on the vitamin E-deficient basal diet. This protection is ascribed to the anti-oxidant activity of the xanthophylls.

2. The addition of 20% cod liver oil to the natural diet caused a marked fall in the plasma-xanthophyll level. Vitamin E deficiency symptoms occurred in these animals when the plasma-xanthophyll level had decreased to 0.1 density units, thus indicating a correlation between the destruction of xanthophyll by cod liver oil and the appearance of symptoms.

3. Some unknown factor (probably the unsaturated fatty acids) in cod liver oil, as well as vitamin A, contributes to the destruction of xanthophyll.

4. The protection of xanthophyll by tocopherol occurs only in the gastrointestinal tract.

² Present address: Columbia University, School of Dental and Oral Surgery, New York, N.Y.

Manuscript received 28 June 1950.