Refection, a Transmissible Change in the Intestinal Content, enabling Rats to grow and thrive without Vitamin B in the Food

Abstract

1. When refected rats are fed on adequate diet, containing vitamin B in the form of yeast, the defect in their starch-digestion disappears, and their faeces become normal.2. Attempts to cause refection in rats receiving an adequate diet by feeding white faeces from refected rats do not influence the starch digestion of the former.3. When refected rats, growing normally, are fed upon a diet devoid of starch (as well as of vitamin B) their body weight decreases rapidly, but in spite of this decrease they live for a considerable time.4. Refection cannot be induced in young rats fed upon a diet devoid of starch and of vitamin B.5. Rats may become or may remain refected when the starch of their 1. diet is replaced by dextrin containing a small amount of starch. The faeces of these rats do not seem able to refect other rats.6. Rats may be refected without producing white faeces, but starch grains have always been present in the faeces of such rats.7. The results of special experiments and the clinical observation of refected rats suggest an essential connection between the ability to grow and thrive without vitamin B and the defective digestion of starch.8. Attempts at refection have no beneficial influence upon rats suffering from a deficiency of vitamin A.9. Refection has been transmitted to albino mice receiving a diet devoid of vitamin B, but the refection lasted only for a short time. Attempts at refection of rice-fed pigeons have not succeeded.10.The bearing of studies in refection upon several problems connected with vitamin B is discussed.

Synthesis of Vitamins by Micro-organisms of the Alimentary Tract

“…We have striven hard to find such specific micro-organisms but without success. It was mentioned in our first publications that many gram negative vibrios were always present in refected rats (Fridericia, 1926;Fridericia, Freudenthal, Gudjonsson, Johansen and Schoubye, 1927-28). These vibrios were later seen and described by Schieblich (1929) in Leipzig, but neither in Copenhagen nor in Leipzig could the vibrios be cultivated.…”

“…On the specific point of vitamin synthesis by bacteria isolated from the intestine of the rat the evidence is substantial also (Abdel-Salaam and Leong, 1938), and more recent work indicates the manufacture of biotin in the gut of the rat (Nielsen, Shull and Peterson, 1942) and of inositol in the gut of the mouse (Woolley, 1942); yet the bare fact that for upwards of 30 years countless rats have been used for testing vitamin B in its multiplicity and that nowadays a t least 4 separate members of the complex are quantitatively measured by rat tests indicates that normally the contribution of the bacterial flora of the rat to its economy of these factors is quite insufficient to cover the It was therefore with something of a shock that those interested in nutrition learnt suddenly that the worm had turned and that in a Danish laboratory rats had appeared which managed to grow and thrive without "vitamin B" in their food. The phenomenon aptly called refection and ably described by Fridericia (Fridericia, 1926;Fridericia, Freudenthal, Gudjonsson, Johansen and Schoubye, 1927-28) appeared spontaneously in the summer of 1925 in a young rat hitherto declining on a customary "vitamin B" deficient diet containing raw rice starch. The animal suddenly began to grow at a normal rate whilst its faeces became white and bulky owing to the presence of undigested starch.…”

The Rapid Induction of Human Riboflavin Deficiency with Galactoflavin *

“…tolerated antibiotics throughout the study. The time of onset or severity of signs of riboflavin deficiency did not appear to be influenced by antibiotic administration, although intestinal synthesis of riboflavin has been demonstrated in rats (67)(68)(69). Slight decreases in serum cholesterol have been noted in riboflavindeficient rats (70), but those observed in our patients more likely were related to the ingestion of safflower oil (71), since riboflavin therapy did not increase the serum cholesterol.…”

An investigation of factors governing potato-starch refection in rats

“…a transmissible change in the intestinal content enabling rats to grow and thrive without B vitamin in the food". Fridericia et al (1927) later described the condition in detail. The existence of refection has since been confirmed by Roscoe (1927), Kon & Watchorn (1928), Taylor & Thant (1929), Kon (1931), and Parsons et al (1933).…”

“…It has been suggested by the various authors and particularly by Fridericia et al (1927) that bacterial synthesis of vitamin B in the intestine of the rat may be the explanation of the condition. Schieblich & Rodenkirchen (1929) have described a "vibrio-like" organism which they claim to be responsible for refection, but this finding has so 4tgr not been confirmed.…”