Aging effect of blood pantothenic acid content in female.

In the previous reports (Ishiguro 1961, Ishiguro et al. 1961) the author has pointed out that the pantothenic acid content in blood of rural inhabitants decreases with age, particularly in females. In the following study (Ishiguro 1962), the author reported that the blood pantothenic acid contents of pregnant women showed the level lower than that of non-pregnant women at the same age groups, and the low pantothenic acid level of pregnant women before the 7-8th month of pregnancy could not be raised to the normal range by means of the oral administration of the preparation containing 60 mg of calcium pantothenate per day. It is supposed that the lowering tendency of blood pantothenic acid level in pregnant women comes from the increasing consumption of coenzyme A and its derivatives in this period of pregnancy. From the finding (Kaplan and Lipman 1948) that the major part of blood pantothenic acid is contained in red cells in bound forms, it is necessary to check up whether the low blood pantothenic acid level comes chiefly from decline of hematocrit value or fall of pantothenic acid concentration in red cells. In the present study, measurement of specific gravity, hemoglobin content, hematocrit value and pantothenic acid content of blood samples of rural female inhabitants over 39 years of age was carried out, because in the previous studies the decrease of blood pantothenic acid content was observed mainly in the age classes above 50 years.