1. Neurological changes in fruit bats deficient in vitamin B12
- Author
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G. Julien Oettle, Jack Metz, Ralph Green, Susan V. Van Tonder, and Gillian Cole
- Subjects
Male ,Central nervous system ,Captivity ,Physiology ,Motor Activity ,Chiroptera ,Reflex ,Medicine ,Animals ,Vitamin B12 ,Myelin Sheath ,Multidisciplinary ,biology ,business.industry ,Vitamin B 12 Deficiency ,Anatomy ,Spinal cord ,biology.organism_classification ,Experimental animal ,Disease Models, Animal ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Spinal Cord ,Flight, Animal ,Subacute Combined Degeneration ,business ,Rousettus - Abstract
HAEMATOLOGICAL and neurological sequelae are the two major effects of vitamin B12 deficiency in man. In the haemopoietic system, megaloblastic change leading to anaemia seems to be caused by deranged DNA synthesis1. The cause of central nervous system demyelination, however, is unknown and progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of a suitable experimental animal model. We report that Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), made vitamin B12 deficient in captivity, develop neurological changes similar to those observed in human subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord.
- Published
- 1975