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Effect of Excess of Vitamin A on Sulfur Metabolism in the Rat¹

Division of Research, Lankenau Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The effect of acute excess of vitamin A on sulfur metabolism was studied in nondeficient rats, using Na₂S³⁵O₄, methionine-S³⁵ and cystine-S³⁵, and the liquid scintillation technique to measure specific activity (SA) of the BaS³⁵O₄ precipitates in the urine. Both in hypervitaminotic and control rats given methionine-S³⁵ or cystine-S³⁵, the same amount (75 to 80%) of the excreted radioactivity appeared in the inorganic SO₄ fraction of the urine. When single or repeated vitamin A injections were given to rats treated previously with methionine-S³⁵, a larger amount of inorganic S³⁵O₄ was excreted than in the controls. After injection of Na₂S³⁵O₄, vitamin A-treated rats showed a more rapid decrease in the SA of urinary inorganic SO₄ than control rats, suggesting an increased breakdown of body protein. It therefore appears that vitamin A did not inhibit the oxidation of SH or S-S groups, but that large overdosage had a proteolytic effect in intact rats.

Manuscript received 23 July 1964.