The Pyridoxine-Deficient State in Two Strains of Inbred Mice

Abstract

Pyridoxine deficiency states were studied in weanling (21 to 25 days) and adolescent mice (42 to 48 days) of the C₅₇ and I strains. In both age groups mice of the I strain exhibited the effects of the deficiency more readily and to a greater degree. Their food intake was similar, but they utilized it less efficiently. During the 5- to 8-week experimental periods they dissipated their stores of pyridoxine in the liver and kidney more rapidly. The I strain mice in pyridoxine deficiency developed a susceptibility to convulsions in both age groups, but the C₅₇ strain mice did not. The levels of pyridoxine in the brain of the I strain mice were only slightly lower. In either strain the changes in pyridoxine concentrations in the brain were less than those of the liver or the kidney with respect to age or the deficiency state.