2', 3', 4'-Triacetyl-FMN has been transformed by selec-tive radical bromination into 2', 3', 4'-triacetyl-8α-bromo-FMN, and the following hydrolysis of the latter has afforded 8α-hydroxy-FMN. The presence of the hydroxy group in the 8α position of 8α-hydroxy-FMN is confirmed by its acetylation into 2', 3'-diacetyl-8α-acetoxyribofla-vin-4', 5'-cyclophosphate, The absorption spectra of the synthesized compounds have shown the reduction of the extinction ratios of the first and second absorption maxima in comparison with the extinction of the same maxima for 8α-hydroxyriboflavin, Unlike FMN, fluorescence quenching for 8α-hydroxy-FMN has been found.

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The metabolism of radioactive vitamin E in selenium defi-cient rats has been compared to the metabolism of this vitamin in rats supplemented with 0.1 ppm selenium as sodium selenite in the diet. After dosing with tritiated α tocopherol, the plasma level of radioactivity remained elevated through 48 hours in deficient rats. In contrast, a decline to nearly background levels occurred within 12 hours in the sup-plemented rats. The uptake and release of radioactivity in the erythro-cytes and liver were found to be more rapid in deficient rats than in sup-plemented ones. A 65% greater increase in excretion of radioactivity oc-curred in the urine from deficient rats as compared to supplemented ones. These data indicate that vitamin E is metabolized more rapidly in selenium deficient rats than in supplemented ones.

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The effect of wavelength on the photochemical reaction of ergocalciferol (vitamin D₂) was investigated. An ergocalciferol solution in ethanol was irradiated by monochromatic UV light of various wave-lengths with a fixed quantum (8.0×10⁸ erg/cm²), trimethylsilylated and then applied to a capillary column GLC as described previously (10) in order to estimate the reaction products. The results showed that UV light in a range of 295-312nm was most effective in the photo-chemical transformation of ergocalciferol into suprasterol₂ I and II. The formation of compounds I₁, I₂, II₁ and II₂, which had been found as novel reaction products by BAKKER et al. (8), was not exactly confirmed because the former two were thermally isomerized into gyro- and isopyro-D₂ via ergocalciferol while the latter two were isomerized into 5, 6-tans-D₂ at the temperature for GLC analysis. However, since the peaks caused by gyro- and isopyro-D₂ were observed to be rather large in the gas chromato-grams of long-term irradiated solutions, although no information on the existence of ergocalciferol was obtained from the UV spectra and TLC of the solutions, significant amounts of the compounds I₁ and I₂ might be formed by irradiation of ergocalciferol. On the other hand, the peak due to 5, 6-taans-D₂ was observed to be very small in the gas chromato-grams of irradiated solutions with different wavelengths although no information on the existence of 5, 6-taans-D₂ was also obtained from the results of TLC. Therefore, the photochemical transformation of ergo-calciferol into compounds II₁ and II₂ might occur to only a small extent regardless of irradiated wavelengths.

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An improved procedure for the isolation of suprasterol₂ I and II from a photochemical reaction mixture of ergocalciferol (vitamin D₂) and their spectral data are described in this paper, when a solution of ergocalciferol in ethanol was irradiated by UV light from a high-pressure mercury lamp, the reaction mixture gave six spots, including suprasterol₂ I and II, on the thin-layer chromatogram, while the peaks corresponding to pyro-D₂, isopyro-D₂, 5, 6-trrans-D₂, suprasterol₂ I and II were observed in the gas chromatogram obtained from a capillary column GLC (Supra-sterol₂ I and II were main peaks). After purifying the mixture by column chromatography on silica gel containing 12% alumina as an adsorbent, two main fractions were isolated. The data of their spectra, TLC and GLC showed that the former fraction was suprasterol₂ II while the latter was suprasterol₂ I and that the both fractions contained the respective compound only. Both suprasterol₂ were crystallized as the 3, 5-dinitro-benzoates.

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The vitamin B₁₂ levels of cerebrospinal fluid were assayed microbiologically (Lactobacillus leichmannii method) using samples from 44 patients with various neurological disorders, 4 patients with megalo-blastic anemia and 34 controls. Twenty-seven controls that did not receive vitamin B₁₂ showed a mean cerebrospinal fluid vitamin B₁₂ level of 21.5 pg/ml (range: 0-60). No decrease in cerebrospinal fluid vitamin B₁₂ level was seen in patients with subacute myelo-optico-neuropathy (SMON). High levels of cerebrospinal fluid vitamin B₁₂ were observed only in the patients receiving long term administration of the vitamin. Intrathecal administration of vitamin B₁₂ caused only a slight increase in serum vitamin B₁₂ level after four hours. The existence of a blood brain barrier for vitamin B₁₂ was suggested.

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Effects of sugars and carbonyl compounds (1%) on ribo-flavin formation were examined with non-growing cells of Eremothecium ashbyii. During non-growing cell incubation for 18hr, the addition of glucose markedly stimulated the formation of riboflavin, but the addition of pentoses (ribose, xylose, arabinose), ribitol and acetoin indicated no effect on the production. The supplementation of pyruvate, acetate, di-acetyl, glyoxal and acetoacetate, on the other hand, noticeably inhibited the formation of riboflavin.
The effects of diacetyl monomer, dieter and trimer on the formation of riboflavin were further examined. Dimeric diacetyl (0.5%) among the diacetyl derivatives caused the accumulation of two green fluorescent compounds inside and outside of the cells during the 18hr incubation. The fraction (Compound G₁), which was first eluted in Dowex 50W×4 column chromatography, was accumulated in large amounts indicating an inverse relation to riboflavin formation.
Compound G₁ was isolated from the mycelia and highly purified through many purification procedures. The structure of compound G₁ was studied by paper chromatographic comparison, by determination of ultraviolet, emission, excitation and infrared spectra, by following the change of the maximum fluorescence of the reaction mixture containing the isolated compound in the presence of p-quinone and by examining the possibility of it as a substrate for riboflavin synthetase. The results obtained indi-cated that the isolated compound G₁ is 6, 7-dimethyl-8-(1'-D-ribityl) lumazine.
We speculated that dimeric diacetyl or its derivative becomes a significant inhibitor for the riboflavin synthetase reaction to result in the accumu-lation of 6, 7-dimethyl-8-ribityllumazine although the true inhibitor remains to be solved in future.

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The effect of various muscle conditions on anserine and carnosine contents suggests that these peptides have some physiological role in muscular functions. These conditions are: 1) Although the anserine content in rat gastrocnemius muscle was not changed by ischiamic denervation, the carnosine content was significantly decreased. Carno-sinase activity in the denerved gastrocnemius muscle was two times stronger than that of intact gastrocnemius muscle. 2) Carnosine content in rat gastrocnemius muscle was also decreased by forced swimming exercise. 3) Neither anserine nor carnosine was detected in sarcoma and granuloma. 4) In rabbit, anserine and carnosine contents in white muscle fibers were 12-17 and 1-2 μmole/g of wet tissue and were ap-proximately 10 and 2 times more than those in red muscle fibers, respec-tively.

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Anserine and carnosine contents were determined in muscle of rats subjected to histidine depletion or excessive supplement. The contents of anserine and carnosine were reduced in the gastro-cnemius muscle of rats fed a histidine-free diet. The diet showed especial-ly a remarkable decrease of carnosine content. After rehabilitation for one week, the muscle anserine and carnosine contents in histidine-deficient rat returned to the normal level.
The body and gastrocnemius muscle weights were decreased in rats fed a histidine-excess diet. However, anserine and carnosine content in muscle of rats fed a histidine-excess diet were twice of that of control rats.
Urinary excretion of Nπ-methylhistidine and Nτ-methylhistidine was in-creased in rats fed a histidine-excess diet.

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The effect of casein that has reacted with glucose and/or lipid on the growth and hepatic lipids of rats was studied. A mixture of casein-ethyl linoleate-glucose was kept at 50°C and RH 80.4% for 14 days and defatted with ethyl ether and acetone. When the casein that had reacted with glucose and lipid was fed at a 10% dietary level for 14 days, the growth of rats was markedly depressed. Not only levels of hepatic lipids but also of plasma lipids were specifically modified. The accumu-lation of hepatic lipids was primarily due to the increase in triglyceride. When casein was reacted with glucose alone, similar but considerably lesser changes in the growth and liver lipid components were observed. These data indicate that casein characteristically deteriorates with glucose and/or lipid, but the effect of oxidation of the latter is very remarkable.

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This study was conducted to examine the effects of certain nutritional variables on the onset of renal damage due to oral admini-stration of Cd, and to investigate its reversibility by dietary switch-over in female rats during an observation period of 7 months.
Four dietary regimens were adopted: Two basal diets, including a multi-nutritionally deficient diet (10% protein, 0.05% Ca, 0.14% P and no fiber) (designated L) and a normal balanced stock diet (designated N); each diet was fed with and without the addition of Cd 200ppm, and then the 4 diets were designated L (-), N (-), L (+) and N (+). (+) indicates the addition of Cd, while (-) is without addition of Cd. In comparison with the N (+) group, rats fed the L (+) diet for 7 months revealed the following distinct characteristics: 1) Marked growth re-tardation due mainly to decreases in food intake and food efficiency (Cd-induced protein-calorie malnutrition). 2) Marked depilation, general or localized, due to abnormal behavior of biting and eating each other's hair. 3) Progressive increase in Cd output in urine, particularly five months after starting the dietary treatment, and an increased output of uri-nary protein. 4) Significant elevation of accumulated Cd in the kidney (and also in the liver).
These observations were further supported by “switch-over” experiments, showing that the above-mentioned changes were reversed to normal when the L (+) diet was replaced by either the L (-) or even the N (+) diet, whereas the abnormal changes became evident when the diet was switched to the L (+) diet three months after the experiment. Moreover, renal ac-cumulation of Cd was remarkably increased in the L (+) group, in spite of much less Cd intake than in the N (+) group.
These findings strongly suggest that nutritional factor(s) play an impor-Cant role in the early development of Cd poisoning, in particular in the development of renal damage, presumably due to enhanced input of Cd in the body.

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The present study focused mainly on the relative ability of each of dietary components; protein, minerals (calcium and phosphorus) and dietary fiber, to prevent the renal damage due to chronic oral alimen-tation of Cd in young female rats. Renal accumulation of Cd was assessed over an experimental period of one month, which reflects mainly on Cd input from the gut.
In comparison with rats fed a multi-nutritionally deficient, Cd-added diet, Cd concentration in the kidney was markedly reduced by supplementation with Ca and P (p<0.001), significantly decreased by high protein (p<0.05), and by dietary fiber (p<0.05), and by combined supplementation with protein and fiber (p<0.02), respectively. Supplementation with these three components brought about a remarkable reduction in a similar level to that in rats fed a normal balanced, Cd-added diet.
These individual dietary factors, however, are considered to play a distinctly different role in preventing renal Cd accumulation: supple-mentation with protein behaves rather non-specifically through im-provement of general condition (i.e., growth, food intake, food efficiency, fecal output), and addition of fiber is mostly responsible for marked shortening of gastrointestinal transit time and enhanced fecal output. In contrast, supplementation with minerals is the most effective in reduced input of Cd, presumably due to a specific interaction of divalent ions; Ca-Cd on the mucosal phase of Cd transport.

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