Biotin-deficient chickens and ducks developed much more severe infections with Plasmodium lophurae than did non-deficient control animals. While a very mild degree of biotin deficiency sufficed to increase susceptibility, even an extreme degree of pantothenic acid deficiency had no effect. Biotin deficiency also increased the susceptibility of ducks to P. cathemerium. In animals infected with P. lophurae, the concentration of biotin in the plasma as well as in the red cells rose during the course of the infection, reached a peak at about the same time as the parasite number reached its peak, and then returned to normal as the infection subsided. While the administration of additional biotin to animals partially deficient in biotin could be considered a specific measure tending to lessen the severity of infection with P. lophurae, the injection of biotin into animals fed a diet adequate in this vitamin had no antimalarial effects, perhaps because the excess biotin was rapidly removed from the blood.
Article|
June 01 1943
THE INFLUENCE OF BIOTIN UPON SUSCEPTIBILITY TO MALARIA
William Trager
William Trager
From the Department of Animal and Plant Pathology of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, Princeton, New Jersey
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William Trager
From the Department of Animal and Plant Pathology of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, Princeton, New Jersey
Received:
March 31 1943
Online Issn: 1540-9538
Print Issn: 0022-1007
Copyright, 1943, by The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research New York
1943
J Exp Med (1943) 77 (6): 557–582.
Article history
Received:
March 31 1943
Citation
William Trager; THE INFLUENCE OF BIOTIN UPON SUSCEPTIBILITY TO MALARIA . J Exp Med 1 June 1943; 77 (6): 557–582. doi: https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.77.6.557
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