Effects of Pyridoxine Deficiency upon Circulating Antibody Formation and Skin Hypersensitivity Reactions to Diphtheria Toxoid in Guinea Pigs

Abstract

These studies were designed to investigate the effects of a pyridoxine deficiency in the guinea pig upon (1) circulating antibody response to the antigenic stimulus of diphtheria toxoid, and (2) skin hypersensitivity reactions to diphtheria toxoid injected intradermally into animals immunized previously with this antigen. Serum levels of circulating antibody were determined both by the tanned erythrocyte technique and by the Römer-Sames method for the estimation of diphtheria antitoxin. Pyridoxine deficiency was produced in very young guinea pigs by feeding a highly purified diet lacking pyridoxine. The deficiency state was induced in more mature animals by administering the pyridoxine antagonist, deoxypyridoxine, to guinea pigs receiving the pyridoxine-deficient diet. Pyridoxine deficiency, produced by either of these procedures, depressed both circulating antibody formation and the degree of the early, Arthus-type skin hypersensitivity reaction to diphtheria toxoid.