Interdependence of Vitamin B 1 and Manganese. II. Manganese,Copper,Iron Metabolism in B 1 Deficient Rats

Perla, and Perla and Sandberg 1 , 2 in their work on the reproductive behavior of rats have demonstrated a metabolic interdependence of manganese and vitamin B₁. The present study was planned to provide information on the metabolism of manganese, copper and iron during the development of and recovery from vitamin B₁ deficiency. Since the changes in copper and iron metabolism were not sufficiently constant to suggest a definite role of these metals in relation to vitamin B₁, the metabolism of manganese only will be discussed.

Twenty-two male and female albino rats of about 3 months of age were used in the experiment. They were kept in metabolism cages as described previously. 3 Since only negligible amounts of Mn, Cu and Fe are excreted in the urine, feces only were collected twice a week. Feces and food were analyzed for Mn, 4 Cu, 5 and Fe. 6 Blood pyruvic acid 7 was determined weekly in control groups of rats that were kept only for this purpose.

The rats received the Sherman-Spohn vitamin B₁-deficient diet as modified by Chase. This diet contained 6 gamma of Mn per g of food. Additional Mn was given in the form of recrystallized MnCl₂. 4H₂O of highest quality dissolved in copper-free water. The controls received the same diet, but were supplied with crystalline vitamin B₁ ∗ The rats were kept on the vitamin B₁-deficient diet for a period of 5 weeks. One mg of Mn per rat daily was then added for 3 weeks. When symptoms of vitamin B₁-deficiency were strongly developed, synthetic vitamin B₁ was injected intraperitoneally twice a week, supplying 400 gamma of vitamin B₁ daily, while the addition of Mn was continued.