Effect of vitamin B6 on gamma-aminobutyric acid level in rat brain.

Vitamin B6 injected intraperitoneally into rats 400 mg/kg body weight, has produced a statistically significant decrease in GABA level concentrations in hippocampus and cerebellum. Cerebral cortex, caudate nucleus and thalamus have shown the decrease in GABA concentrations, but these changes were not statistically significant. No remarkable behavioural changes were noted under such circumstances. The possible functional meaning of these results is discussed in relation to the role of GABA distribution in different brain regions and development of convulsions.     

Biosynthesis of homocysteine sulfinic acid in the vitamin B6-deficient rat.

The formation of L-homocysteine sulfinic acid in the rat was examined in vivo and in vitro. This compound was rarely found, in trace amounts, in the urine and could not be detected in the tissues of various animal species studied. When L-homocysteine or methionine was given orally or intraperitoneally to rats deficient in vitamine B6, the level of homocysteine sulfinic acid in the urine increased and its synthesis could be detected in the liver.