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A Study of Vitamin B₁₂ Deficiency in the Calf¹

University of Illinois²

Abstract

A series of calves maintained on a "synthetic milk" diet in which the protein source was alpha-protein from soybeans, supplemented with methionine, lard, cerelose, minerals, and vitamins other than vitamin B₁₂, exhibited a cessation of growth, poor appetite and, in some cases, incoordination. Examination of the peripheral nerves of some of these calves revealed varying degrees of demyelination, and the distribution of bone marrow cells showed a low proportion of the myeloid series.

In some animals growth was resumed following liver extract or crystalline vitamin B₁₂ therapy, and a reticulocytosis was observed in the bone marrow. Other animals exhibited only transient responses to vitamin B₁₂ therapy, intramuscular or oral, and still others failed to show any response at all. Biliary obstruction was observed in four calves and was suspected in at least two others. The fact that good growth was previously induced in calves fed a diet differing only in that casein replaced alpha-protein plus methionine indicates that casein may have been supplying one or more factors in addition to vitamin B₁₂ which are required for the normal development of the calf.

¹ This investigation was supported in part by funds donated by Merck and Company, Inc., Rahway, New Jersey. We are also indebted to Mr. Nelson Mosser and Dr. W. B. Nevens of the Department of Dairy Science for help in obtaining calves, to Dr. L. E. Boley and Dr. R. D. Hatch of the College of Veterinary Medicine for many clinical examinations of the animals, and to Dr. C. C. Morrill of the College of Veterinary Medicine for the histological examinations.

Grateful acknowledgment is made of the assistance of Sadie W. Taylor and Margaret B. Keane of the Division of Animal Nutrition, and of Dr. J. B. Thiersch, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, Washington, in carrying out the blood and bone marrow cell counts.

Thiamine hydrochloride, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, calcium pantothenate, nicotinic acid, choline, alpha-tocopheryl acetate, vitamin B-12, and streptomycin were generously supplied by Merck and Company through the courtesy of Dr. D. F. Green.

Lederle Laboratories Division, American Cyanamid Company, Pearl River, New York, generously supplied the pteroylglutamic acid, normocytin and 15-unit liver extract through the courtesy of Dr. E. L. R. Stokstad.

Inositol was generously supplied by A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company, Decatur, Illinois.

Methionine was generously provided by Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan, through the courtesy of Dr. Julius Johnson.

Sulfathalidine (phthalylsulfathiazole) was generously supplied by Sharp and Dohme, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, through the courtesy of Dr. S. F. Scheidy.

² Division of Animal Nutrition.