Enamel Organ of the Rat's Incisor Tooth in Vitamin E Deficiency

Abstract

Davies and Moore¹ have pointed out that rats on a diet deficient in vitamins A and E suffered from a secondary vitamin A deficiency as evidenced by a disappearance of the vitamin from the liver ; and also by a whitening of the incisor teeth, an effect which occurs in prolonged vitamin A deficiency² and was prevented by vitamin E dosage. Through the kindness of Dr. H. E. Brink, Department of Physiology, University of Stellenbosch, who has been working on vitamin E deficiency, I have been able to examine the incisor teeth of three female rats which had been on a vitamin E deficient diet³ for 167 days from weaning. They had shown complete resorption of ambryos and the characteristic paralysis of the hind legs had just set in. The incisor teeth had the normal orange colour.