[Level of nicotinic acid and NAD in the organs of rats during complete starvation].

In the liver, heart, brain and pancreas of control rats and of test animals fasting for 2, 4, 7 and 11 days the content of nicotinic acid in the organs was determined by the microbiological method and that of NAD- biochemically. After 2, 7 and 11 days of fasting a statistically significant increase in the level of nicotinic acid per 1 g of tissue was ascertained in all the organs. After 4 days of fasting an increase in the vitamin content proved insignificant. With the calculation covering the entire organ the fall of the PP level in the liver proceeded uniformly and after the 11th day of fasting it amounted to 46 per cent, whereas in the heart the decline was insignificant, the content of the vitamin in the brain, however, rose by 21 per cent. The NAD level in the organs, calculated to 1 g of the tissue, changed but little and with the estimates covering the whole of the organ there could be noted its substantial drop in the liver, especially after 11 days of fasting (by as much as 62 per cent), and to a lesser degree--in the heart and pancreas and rise in the brain (by 13 per cent).