The influence of vitamin E deficiency on the metabolism of sodium formate-C14 and glycine-1-C14 by the rabbit.

Several recent, reports from this laboratory have implicated vitamin E in the metabolism of the nucleic acids. It was shown that vitamin E-deficient rabbits excrete extra quantities of allantoin (1) and that the livers from such animals exhibit greatly increased xanthine oxidase activities (2). Finally it haa been shown that vitamin E deprivation in the rat, leads to an increased incorporation of formate into nucleic acids (3). The combined results of these experiments have been interpreted to indicate that the turnover rate of nucleic acids is increased in vitamin E deficiency. The present report is concerned with the influence of vitamin E deficiency on the metabolism of glycine and formate by the rabbit. The results indicate that vitamin E may be somewhat specifically concerned with formate metabolism.