Response to Stress by Riboflavin-Deficient and Pantothenic Acid-Deficient Dogs

¹ From the Department of Home Economics, University of California, Berkeley, California

Normal, pantothenic acid-deficient and riboflavin-deficient young dogs were forced to swim for 25 minutes at 25°C and their blood glucose and in some cases blood lactic acid levels determined just before, just after and 1 and 2 hours after the test. A sharp rise in blood sugar level, markedly greater in the riboflavin-deficient dogs, occurred just after the swimming stress. An abnormal fall in level occurred in all deficient dogs after 2 hours. Severe under-feeding did not produce this change in a normal dog nor did force feeding alter it in riboflavin-deficient animals. Adrenocortical extract treatment diminished the poststress rise in normal and pantothenic acid-deficient but not in riboflavin-deficient dogs. Epinephrine treatment produced the same effects as swimming on blood sugar and lactic acid levels in normal animals. Adrenocortical extracts caused recovery from pantothenic acid-deficient hypoglycemic collapse but not from the similar riboflavin-deficient collapses. Thus increased sensitivity to insulin and to epinephrine appeared present in riboflavin deficiency and increased insulin sensitivity, normal response to epinephrine but hypocorticalism in pantothenic acid deficiency.