Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) deficiency was induced in cotton rats which were then infected with the filarial parasite Litomosoides carinii. Embryogenesis was assessed microscopically in worms taken from pyridoxine deficient cotton rats and from various categories of control animals. Embryogenesis was retarded in worms from pyridoxine deficient hosts and more abnormal embryos were present in such worms than in those from control animals.

Vitamin B6 deficiency was induced in mice by maintenance for 4 weeks on a vitamin B6-free diet. Tryptophan metabolism was assessed by determining the urinary excretion of tryptophan metabolites, the metabolism of [14C]tryptophan in vivo and the formation of tryptophan and niacin metabolites by isolated hepatocytes. The vitamin B6-deficient animals excreted more xanthurenic acid and 3-hydroxykynurenine, and less of the niacin metabolites N1-methyl nicotinamide and methyl-2-pyridone-4-carboxamide, than did control animals maintained on the same diet supplemented with 5 mg vitamin B6/kg. After intraperitoneal injection of [14C]tryptophan, vitamin B6-deficient mice showed lower liberation of14CO2 from [methylene-14C]tryptophan and [U-14C]tryptophan than did controls, indicating impairment of kynureninase (EC 3.7.1.3) activity. There was no difference between the two groups of animals in the metabolism of [ring-2-14C]tryptophan. Hepatocytes isolated from the vitamin B6-deficient animals formed more 3-hydroxykynurenine and xanthurenic acid than did cells from control animals, but also formed more NADP and free niacin.