Effect of dietary pyridoxine on arsenic deprivation in rats.

A study was performed to determine whether dietary pyridoxine affects the response of rats to arsenic deprivation. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorially arranged experiment utilized groups of 6 male weanling Sprague-Dawley rats. They were fed a 14% amino acid/76% acid-washed corn diet for 10 weeks. The dietary variables were arsenic, 0 or 1 microgram/g; pyridoxine.HCl, 0 or 10 mg/kg, and L-methionine, 0 or 3 g/kg. The basal diet contained 0.24% methionine (calculated) and about 10 ng arsenic/g. Growth was reduced by arsenic, pyridoxine or methionine deprivation. Other parameters including blood indices, erythrocyte aspartate aminotransferase and the concentration of tissue iron and plasma amino acids were affected by dietary arsenic, pyridoxine, methionine or their interaction. The data demonstrate that dietary pyridoxine and arsenic interact and that the methionine status of the animal can affect this interaction.