Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T01:10:16.693Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of cysteine and B group vitamins on the skin of the white laboratory mouse infested with the mite Myocoptes musculinus (Koch)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Doreen P. Watson
Doreen P. Watson
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, 8 Hunter Street, London, W.C. 1
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

1. Mice were given a supplement of nicotinic acid, riboflavin or B complex from 1 to 6 months.

2. One mouse of each group was then infested with Myocoptes musculinus for a period of 1 week or 8 weeks. At infestation the supplement was discontinued. Alternatively infestation lasted 8 weeks, the supplement being continued until death.

3. The mitotic rate was estimated for the epidermis of clean and infested mice and the rates compared.

4. Other mice were fed cysteine for periods of three months, one was then infested for a period of 8 weeks before being killed and the mitotic rates of the clean and infested mice compared.

5. It was found that after supplementing the feed of the mice by members of the B group vitamins, quite large numbers of mites (M. myocoptes) could be carried without deleterious effect to the host and without signs of mange.

6. With cysteine supplementation, no gross signs of mange were seen but the mite affected the skin by raising the mitotic rate in the malpighian layer.

I wish to thank Vitamins Limited for supplying the vitamin supplements; and the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for facilities for carrying out the work; also Dr A. M. Hughes for her helpful guidance at all stages of the work and especially for reading the paper.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 53 , Issue 1-2 , May 1963 , pp. 265 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1963

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

György, P. (1938). Pediculosis in rats kept on a riboflavin-deficient diet. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol., N.Y., 38, 383–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kartman, L. (1942). A note on vitamins in relation to ectoparasite resistance. J. Parasit. 28 (2), 170–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kartman, L. (1943). New developments in the study of ectoparasite resistance. J. Econ. Ent. 36, 372–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koser, S. A., Dorfman, A. & Saunders, F. (1938). Nicotinic acid as an essential growth substance for Dysentery bacilli. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol., N. Y., 38. 311–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nutrition Review (1942). Possible interdependence of the B vitamins. Nutr. Rev. 1, 378–9.Google Scholar
Sinclair, H. M. (1956). Vitamins and the skin. Brit. Med. Bull. 12, 1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sullivan, M. & Evans, V. J. (1945). Nutritional dermatoses in the rat—xl vitamin A deficiency superimposed on vitamin B complex deficiency. Arch. Derm. Syph., N. Y., 51, 17–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D. P. (1961 a). The effect of the mite Myocoptes musculinus (C. L. Koch, 1840) on the skin of the white laboratory mouse and its control. Parasitology, 51, 373–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D. P. (1961 b). The biology and histological effects on the host's skin of some sarcoptiform mites. Ph.D. thesis.Google Scholar