The Physiological Availability of Pantothenyl Alcohol

Abstract

The urinary excretion of pantothenic acid by 7 normal male subjects was slightly less after an oral dose of 100 mg calcium pantothenate than after an equivalent dose of pantothenyl alcohol, when taken after lunch. A priming dose of calcium pantothenate is necessary to insure valid results. When the dose was increased to 250 mg of calcium pantothenate or 215 mg of pantothenyl alcohol, a decidedly greater excretion of pantothenic acid occurred after the ingestion of pantothenyl alcohol. Similar results were obtained when sodium pantothenate was substituted for calcium pantothenate. When the subjects received the greater dosages in the postabsorptive state, the differences in the pantothenic acid excretion disappeared largely except in the case of 2 of the 7 subjects. The L. arabinosus assay values for pantothenic acid in the urines following the ingestion of the greater doses of both calcium pantothenate and pantothenyl alcohol were significantly higher than those obtained with S. carlsbergensis.