Thiamine hydrochloride, thiamine dicetylsulfate or dibenzoylthiamine was administered orally to chicks of white Leghorn fed the thiamine deficient diet in equivalent amount of 0.1 mg of thiamine hydrochloride per chick per day, and their effects were investigated for 30 days. No significant difference was recognized between the effects of these three derivatives on the body weight gain and the thiamine contents in liver, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, muscle, and blood of each group of chicks.

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By the injection of 4-desoxypyridoxine, the so called antimetabolite of vitamine B_6,in dosis of 0.15-0.3 mg per gram body weight to mice, it was recognized that 100 out of the 140 rats (71.4%) injected showed characteristic convulsions and 62 rats died. Against this injury, pyridoxine, pyridoxamine and glucuronic acid were found to have some antagonistic action to a narrow extent and this antagonism was by no means such a stabilized one as the case of vitamin B_6 to toxopyrimidine.

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The urinary excretion of biotin before and after biotin administration and the biotin content of liver were studied in rabbits with acute or chronic CCl_4 damage. In acute CCl_4 poisoning the urinary excretion of biotin was found to be increased even on the first day. The high level continued until the second day, and decreased slightly on the third day. In the chronic CCl_4 poisoning, the spontaneous excretion of biotin and the increase of urinary excretion after an administration of 40μg of biotin increased gradually. At the end of eighth week, the increase in these values were significant. The biotin content of liver, especially the bound biotin, was found to be decreased remarkably, both in acute and chronic CCl_4 poisoning. These facts afford an additional evidence to the hypothesis that there is disturbance of utilization of biotin in hepatic damage.

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The urinary excretion of biotin and the biotin content of liver in rats with alloxan diabetes were studied. The effect of administration of insulin and ATP were also examined. An increase of urinary biotin excretion and decrease of biotin content of liver, especially the bound biotin, were demonstrated in diabetic rats. In groups treated with insulin or ATP, the disturbance of biotin metabolism was less than that of non-treated group. These data indicate that there may be a disturbance of utilization of biotin in alloxan diabetic animals.

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Thiothiamine administered to thiamine-deficient albiono rats failed to change itself into thiamine in the liver, and moreover, no transformation of thiothiamine into thiamine could be observed in experiments in which thiothiamine mixed with homogenized livers of various animals was used. Thiothiamine when administered to albino rats, was excreted in much larger amount compared with the case of thiamine. Even when a large amount of thiothiamine was administered, it was never transferred into thiamine, nor would it be accumulated inside the body as thiamine, probably being quickly excreted in urine. From this, it is seen that thiothiamine lacks thiamine activity because it fails to be changed into thiamine inside the body, and probably because, while it is quickly absorbed, it is no less quickly excreted from the body as such, without being accumulated therein.

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Present paper deals with the studies on riboflavin metabolism with microorganisms related to dental caries. Lactobacillus acidophylus and Aerobacter chroacae were used and the change of riboflavin and its three forms during the growth was investigated. And, further examination was undertaken on the percentege determination of exogenous riboflavin, that is, the amount of three types found in the media. The culture media used were meat bouillon and liver bouillon. Quantitative determination of riboflavin was carried out by the method of lumiflavin fluorescence and the estimation of three respective types by paper chromatography. (1) Riboflavin content of the media decreased with the culture of Lactobacillus acidophylus, while it increased with Aerobactar chroacae. (2) With fractional quantitative determination of each type of riboflavin, it was found that in both organisms, free riboflavin prevailed mostly and FMN occupied the remainder in meat bouillon, while in liver bouillon, FMN was mostly found and free vitamin occupied the remainder. FAD was not observed in either of the organisms. (3) With Lactobacillus of teeth FAD was found chiefly in the endogenous riboflavin and FMN occupied the rest and no free type was observed.

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The urine obtained from tuberculosis patients early in the morning after an intravenous injection of 100 mg of ascorbic acid was used for the determination of ascorbic acid and amino acids. The ascorbic acid content in the urine of tuberculotics was remarkably low as compared with that of healthy subjects. In 24 cases of tuberculosis patients, phenylalanine and valine were detected in the urine. Three hundred mg of ascorbic acid to 12 patients, 5 mg of thiamine to 2,5mg of riboflavin to 5,10mg of thiamine and 100 mg of ascorbic acid to 3 were administered subcutaneously for 20 days. Amino acid in the urine disappeared in 6 cases, receiving ascorbic acid and in one case each, receiving thiamine, riboflavin or thiamine and ascorbic acid respectively. Thus, there might be some correlation between the administration of ascorbic acid, thiamine or riboflavin and the appearance of phenylalanine and valine in the urine.

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(1) The growth of Yoshida sarcoma implanted in rats was promoted by feeding on vitamin A deficicient food and the life of the animals was sbortened with prolongation of the feeding. (2) The growth of Yoshida sarcoma implanted in rats was slightly promoted by starvation, not so remarkable as in feeding on food deprived of vitamin A. (3) The growth of Yoshida sarcoma implanted in vitamin A over-dosed rats was supressed to a certain degree and the life of the animals was lengthened in proportion to the doses of vitamin A so long as no injury due to over-dosis ocurred.

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Vitamin D deficiency or its over dosis disturbs the sexual function of the rat, decreases the conception faculty and exerts detrimental influence on the growth of infantile rats. A certain large dosis of vitamin D promotes the sexual function, regulates the disordered sexual cycle and moreover it increases the conception facultty of the animal.

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One of the most reliable tests for quantitative determination of pyruvic acid in urine is to measure its amount contained in the urine discharged and collected in two divided portions at a regular interval in one hour following the administration of 5.0 ml of a 20% fructose solution. The differnce in value between the pyruvic acid content of the first portion of the urine and that of the second portion, i.e., an increase in the pyruvic acid content of urine due to the intake of fructose, was practically identical with the corresponding quantitative difference shown in Sawada's urinary reaction. This test proved an excellent means of discovering a diseased condition at early stage and of confirming a complete recovery from it. It served as a reliable criterion for use in determining the state of health in labor medicine.

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The riboflavin content of several edible fungi and their products was measured by the lumiflavin-fluorophotometric method. The flavin content of the fungi was found to be higher than hitherto considered. The flavin content in the cap of fungus was higher than that in the stalk. The proportion of ester forms (FAD and FMN) in the canned fungi was almost equal to those in the fresh materials, but there was considerable decrease in the dried products.

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Cell free preparations obtained from Bacillus alvei, B. brevis, B. firmus, B. subtilis, Candida krusei and C. pseudotropicalis were able to hydrolyze thiamine to its moieties. The factor responsible for the destruction was thermolabile, had optimum pH and temperature for its action, and was not dialyzable. The activity was impeded by heavy metals and was not accerelated by pyridine or aniline. From these observations, the author concluded that intracellular "thiaminase II" is distributed in organisms belonging to several Bacillus and Candida species.

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Bacteriological characteristics of six strains of Clostridia which had been isolated and recognized by the author to have a potent thiaminase activity were studied. It was concluded that all the strains tested did not belong to any one of species described in Bergey's Manual 6th edition, but to Clostridium thiaminolyticum Kimura et Liao.

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The growth effect of several purine and pyrimidine bases for Lactobacillus arabinosus, L. casei, Streptococcus faecalis, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides in a complete or an imcomplete medium. In a complete medium the effect of purine and pyrimidine bases was scarcely observed. In an imcomplete medium, lacking purine or pyrimidine bases, the growth of bacillus was retarded, but the effect was smaller than that of lacking in vitamins.

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In a medium containing essential amino acids and B-vitamins, Lactobacillus fermenti did not grown, while the addition of any one of aspartic acid, proline or alanine, and also folic acid, p-aminobenzoic acid or vitamin B_<12> besides riboflavin the growth of the bacillus was observed. The interrelationship was supposed to exist between riboflavin, p-aminobenzoic acid and folic acid in the growth effect for L. fermenti.

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