The Need for and Interrelationship of Folic Acid, Anti-Pernicious Anemia Liver Extract, and Biotin in the Pig

Abstract

The basal ration, fed for 21 weeks, was inadequate for hematopoiesis in the pig. It is recommended that folic acid be added to the basal ration (containing 6 B-complex vitamins — thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid, and choline) when it is used in studying the effects of other vitamins in the pig. The addition of 10% dehydrated alfalfa meal to the basal ration, for a 13-week period, was of no benefit on growth or efficiency of feed utilization. However, it was beneficial to about the same extent as folic acid, in stimulating hemoglobin and red blood cell formation. The addition of folic acid or the anti-pernicious anemia liver extract to the basal ration + sulfasuxidine resulted in an increased need for biotin since biotin deficiency symptoms showed up 2 weeks earlier and developed very much more severely than when only sulfasuxidine was added to the basal ration. This may have been caused by some vitamin imbalance. This might suggest the possibility of biotin therapy being needed for human patients being treated with folic acid or the anti-pernicious anemia liver extract. Sulfasuxidine feeding for 21 weeks resulted in the development of only slight symptoms of biotin deficiency. A normocytic anemia was produced in the pig by adding sulfasuxidine for 21 weeks, to the basal ration. The anemia was prevented by folic acid and to a lesser extent by an antipernicious anemia liver extract (at levels both were fed). A more severe anemia was produced by using a crude folic acid antagonist. A combination of biotin and folic acid was more effective than folic acid alone in counteracting the effect of the crude folic acid antagonist. The effect of sulfasuxidine, over a long period of time, in decreasing gains and efficiency of feed utilization was counteracted almost entirely by a combination of folic acid and biotin. However, sulfasuxidine did not affect gains or efficiency of feed utilization during the first 6 weeks the pigs were on experiment; neither did it affect hemoglobin or erythrocyte formation during the first 13 weeks on experiment. This indicates that sulfasuxidine can be used therapeutically, at levels fed in this experiment, for a considerable length of time without any visible injurious effect on the pig. The anti-pernicious anemia liver extract had no effect (at level fed) in stimulating hemoglobin or erythrocyte formation when the crude folic acid antagonist was added to the basal ration + sulfasuxidine.