Effect of pyridoxine deficiency on Litomosoides carinii infection in albino rats.

Pyridoxine deficiency has been induced in albino rats at the weanling or neonatal stages. Exposure of the vitamin-deficient rats to the infective larvae of Litomosoides carinii resulted in no development or establishment of the parasite in the host. Although the food consumption of the pair-fed group was necessarily restricted to that of the deficient group, the susceptibility of the animals of the pair-fed group receiving the normal vitamin intake resembled that of the control group. The humoral immune response to the infection in the pair-fed controls as measured by indirect haemagglutination, was inhibited compared to that in the controls. This inhibition was more severe in the vitamin-deficient animals.