Observations of the concentration of zinc and iron in tissues of vitamin B6-deficient germ-free rats.

The transition of zinc and iron metabolism in vitamin B6 deficiency was investigated using germ-free and conventional rats. In contrast to previous reports, a decrease in zinc content was not observed in the liver, pancreas, kindney, spleen, lung or testes of vitamin B6-deficient conventional and germ-free rats, but we found an increase in zinc content in the kidney of conventional rats and in the liver and spleen of germ-free rats. Vitamin B6-deficient conventional and germ-free rats retained more iron in their tissues than the control animals did, except for the spleen of germ-free rats. The deposit of iron was more evident in vitamin B6-deficient germ-free rats than in vitamin B6-deficient conventional rats, and is possibly proportional to the degree of vitamin B6 deficiency. It is possible that the deposit of iron in the organs had some influence on metabolic disorders in vitamin B6-deficient rats.