Pyridoxine, Pyridoxal, Pyridoxamine, Vitamin 86
The complex nature of the B vitamins was further unraveled through the discovery of pyridoxine. Other names applied to the principle rat acrodynia factor, rat antidermatitis factor, included and vitamin H. The was used some in the European literature. Gyorgy showed that an eluate of adsorbate of yeast extract was able to cure a type of dermatitis in rats that developed on synthetic rations containing Bl (thiamine) and B2 (lactoflavin).
This condition differ from that found in the absence of the pellagra preventive factor (then thoozyl to be B2) and was characterized by denuding around the paws, nose, and mouth. Thus at least two anti dermatitis factors for the rat became known aEd the dual nature of called B2 preparations was established. Various groups of workers isolated the compound from natural sources in 1938. Keresztesy and Stevens, for instance, isolated the pure substance from rice polishings and studied certain properties of the material. Its structure was elucidated by Stiller and others and by Harris and co-worker in this country.
Details of one method of synthesis were described by Harris and Folkers in 1939. The synthesis was also accomplished at about the same time by a group of German workers headed by Kuhn. The name pyridoxine was given to the compound at this time. There are three compounds, interconvertible in the animal body, which possess vitamin B6 active. In general, pyridoxine is a general term indicating vitamin B6 active material. Specifically this is not correct, since pyridoxine is a definite compound, as are pyridoxal and pyridoxamine, and all three have B6 activity. The phosphorylated compounds likewise have vitamin activity in animal.
