NEUROLOGIC MANIFESTATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY IN YOUNG DUCKS

Abstract

TWO OPPOSING views are held regarding the clinical manifestations of the pathologic changes in the nervous system that result from vitamin A deficiency. One group of investigators¹observed weakness, incoordination and ataxia in their experimental animals, and they demonstrated lesions in the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. A second group²found no significant clinical or pathologic changes in their vitamin A-deficient animals. There was a difference of opinion among the former group as to the mechanism of formation of the pathologic changes. Mellanby^1cexpressed the opinion that the degenerative changes in the central nervous system and peripheral nerves are specific for avitaminosis A, whereas Wolbach and Bessey³stated the belief that the lesions result from a mechanical distortion produced by the differential rate of growth between the spinal cord and the vertebral column. Recently, in a study in this laboratory of malaria in ducks fed