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Effect of Vitamin B₆ Deficiency on Leucine Transaminase Activity in Chick Tissue^1,2,

Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, California

To test the effect of vitamin B₆ deficiency on levels of leucine transaminase activity in various tissues of the chick, 1-day-old male chicks were reared on a purified diet supplemented with zero or 1.2 mg pyridoxine·HCl/100 g diet. After 8 days, chicks fed the deficient diet showed evidence of severe vitamin B₆ depletion: anorexia, retarded growth, ataxia, hyperactivity and convulsions. Leucine transaminase activity was significantly decreased in kidney of chicks fed the deficient diet for 1.5 days. In liver and heart, significant decreases in leucine transaminase activity were detected after 4 days; in brain, after 9 days. No depression in leucine transaminase activity occurred in pair-fed controls. Pyridoxal phosphate added to enzyme reaction mixtures stimulated activity, but it did not restore leucine transaminase activity in homogenates from deficient tissue to control levels.

² A summary of this work was presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Atlantic City, New Jersey, April 1969.

³ Present address: Department of Food Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801.

Manuscript received 10 March 1969.