Vitamin D in ergot of rye / by Edward Mellanby, Ella Surie, and Douglas Creese Harrison.

  • Edward Mellanby
Date:
[1929?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Vitamin D in ergot of rye / by Edward Mellanby, Ella Surie, and Douglas Creese Harrison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/10 (page 713)
    The calcifying effect of the unsaponifiable fraction extracted from the saponified fats by ether. Exp. 4 (preventive, experiment). Two puppies of the same litter were given a rickets-producing diet: 1497 received the basal diet plus unsaponifiable substance from 4 g. ergot; 1501 received the basal diet only. Age at beginning: 7 weeks. Duration of experiment: 12 weeks. Basal diet: 80-150 g. white flour, 20 g. separated milk powder, 20 g. lean meat, 10 cc. olive oil, 2-5 g. dried yeast, 3 cc. orange juice, 2-3 g. sodium chloride. Initial Weight at time of X-ray Gain wt. Clinical and radiographic No. of Variations weight (12 wks.) in 12 wks. diagnosis of bone animal in diet g- g- g- condition 1497 Basal diet + unsapom subs, from 4 g. ergot 2120 5100 2980 Very little rickets (Plate II, fig. 3) 1501 Basal diet 2650 5820 3170 Very bad rickets (Plate II, fig. 4) It is clear that the unsaponifiable fraction prepared in this way has prevented in 1497 the very defective calcification seen in 1501. Exp. 5 (curative experiment). Two puppies of the same litter Avere given a rickets-producing diet. After 10 weeks’ feeding, when both had developed very bad rickets, the unsaponifiable substances representing 6 g. of ergot were added daily to the diet of 1517, that of 1519 being continued without alteration. Age at beginning: 7 weeks. Duration of experiment: 17 weeks. Basal diet: 100 to 150 g. bread, 20 g. separated milk powder, 20 to 10 g. lean meat, 10 cc. peanut oil, 2-5 g. dried yeast, 3 cc. orange juice, 1 g. sodium chloride. Clinical and radiographic Initial Weight at time of X-ray Weight at time of X-ray diagnosis of bone condition t-A-A No. of Variations weight (10 wks.) (17 wks.) After After animal in diet g- g- g- 10 wks. 17 wks. 1517 Basal diet for 10 wks., then unsap. residue from 6 g. ergot for further 7 wks. 2185 4700 5520 Very bad rickets similar to 1519 Healing rickets 1519 Basal diet for 17 wks. 2095 4550 4700 Very bad rickets similar to 1517 Very bad rickets In this case, the unsaponifiable residue has brought about healing. Puppy 1517 was active to some extent at the end of the experiment, 1519 was paralysed. Having obtained evidence that the calcifying action of ergot was due to some substance with properties similar to those of vitamin D, we have assumed that the active substance is vitamin D since, so far as is known, this is the only entity which controls the processes of calcification in the body. The problem then arose as to how vitamin D was formed in ergot. Since ergosterol was first discovered as a constituent of ergot by Tanret [1889], and since ergosterol is now known to be transformed into vitamin D by ultra-violet radiation [Rosenheim and Webster, 1927; Hess and Windaus, 1927], the first suggestion as to the mode of origin of vitamin I) in ergot was that it was