Effect of Pantothenic Acid Deficiency upon Adrenal Cortex, Thymus, Spleen, and Circulating Lymphocytes in Mice.

Abstract

Adult male mice placed on a pantothenate-deficient diet developed a lymphopenia followed by lymphocytosis when compared to control animals. The adrenal cortex showed hypertrophy and simultaneous, gradual depletion of lipid material, including ketosteroids, from the zona fasciculata. By the seventh week the zona fasciculata was nearly depleted of its hormone. In deficient mice, the thymus atrophied and there was a gradual enlargement of the spleen. Starvation caused a rapid depletion of the lipid, including the ketosteroids, from the zona fasciculata. The zona glomerulosa remained unchanged in pantothenic acid deficiency whereas in starvation it was depleted of steroid material but retained some sudanophilic lipids.