Vitamin B-6 deficient rats exhibit changes in behavior, sensory function, and other
nervous system abnormalities such as convulsive
seizures and motor disturbances. Sensorimotor reactivity was evaluated quantitatively by measuring auditory and tactile startle responses in 12 week old female Long-Evans rats fed a diet devoid of added
vitamin B-6 (
DEF) or a control diet, either ad lib (AL-CON) or pair-fed to deficient rats (PF-CON). Deficiency was confirmed with a
tryptophan-load test administered to a separate group of rats fed simultaneously according to the same protocol. At week 18,
body weight and feed efficiency were different among groups (p less than 0.001), and were lowest in
DEF. Amplitude of response to both acoustic and tactile stimuli was depressed in
DEF compared to both control groups, which generally did not differ in response. This effect was seen most dramatically in responses to the acoustic stimulus (p = 0.034), and especially to the first presentation (p = 0.017). Latency to maximum response was not affected by diet. Possible mechanisms for this
nervous system abnormality, not previously reported in
vitamin B-6 deficiency, are discussed.