Open AccessThe effect of vitamin B deficiency on reproduction
Author(s) -
A. S. Parkes,
J. C. Drummond
Publication year - 1925
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, containing papers of a biological character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9185
pISSN - 0950-1193
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1925.0028
Subject(s) - atrophy , reproduction , histology , endocrinology , physiology , medicine , biology , vitamin b , vitamin , testicular atrophy , ecology
A number of investigators have observed atrophy and degenerative changes in the testes of animals fed on diets deficient in the factor termed Vitamin B. Funk and Douglas (5) reported that the testicles of pigeons showing symptoms of avian polyneuritis were greatly atrophied, and that the tubules were diminished in size and contained no spermatozoa. Drummond (3) observed a similar condition in the testes of adult rats deprived of vitamin B, whilst McCarrison (8) found the atrophy of the male gonads to be very much more severe in pigeons with beri-beri than in monkeys with that disease. Allen examined the testes of rats which had been fed on Osborne and Mendels’ diet deficient in vitamin B, and found considerable derangements, to which further reference will be made in the section on Histology.