Effect of Nicotinic Acid Deficiency on the Cozymase Content of Tissues

Abstract

IT is now well recognized, largely through the efforts of the Euler and Warburg laboratories, that nicotinic acid amide is a constituent of both coenzyme I and coenzyme II. Since these coenzymes have such an important role in the metabolic processes of the body, it is of decided importance to acquire more information concerning their physiology. A good deal has been learned from studies with synthetic enzyme systems in which these coenzymes are involved. The in vivo approach has been attempted by the Euler group. They have confined themselves to rats as the experimental animals and have encountered many obstacles in their work, since it has been very difficult to demonstrate a clear-cut deficiency in the rat of the coenzymes or of any of their possible precursors. Recently, however, Elvehjem and co-workers¹ have demonstrated a definite nicotinic acid deficiency in the dog, and Dr. H. Chick et al.² have made similar observations on the pig. We have thus been enabled to work with two different species in which a definite nicotinic acid deficiency is relatively easy to produce.