Pellagra niacin deficiency

Hartnup disorder exhibits symptoms similar to pellagra (niacin deficiency), characterized by three of the "four D s" diarrhea, dermatitis (a red, scaly rash), dementia (intermittent ataxia), and death... 

Pellagra, Niacin Deficiency. It was 220 years after the first description of pellagra that nicotinic acid was discovered to be the cure for black tongue in dogs (14), a condition suggested by a veterinarian in North Carolina to be similar to human pellagra (15). 

Early 1900s Treatment of histamine shock, pellagra (niacin deficiency) and rickets (vitamin D deficiency) Electrocardiography and cardiac catheterization... 

NADP can be converted to nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP), which has distinct functions in the regulation of intracellular calcium stores. The studies of these new roles of NAD(P) in metabolism are in their early stages, but they might soon help to better understand and explain the symptoms of niacin deficiency ( pellagra) [1]. 

The water-soluble vitamins comprise the B complex and vitamin C and function as enzyme cofactors. Fofic acid acts as a carrier of one-carbon units. Deficiency of a single vitamin of the B complex is rare, since poor diets are most often associated with multiple deficiency states. Nevertheless, specific syndromes are characteristic of deficiencies of individual vitamins, eg, beriberi (thiamin) cheilosis, glossitis, seborrhea (riboflavin) pellagra (niacin) peripheral neuritis (pyridoxine) megaloblastic anemia, methyhnalonic aciduria, and pernicious anemia (vitamin Bjj) and megaloblastic anemia (folic acid). Vitamin C deficiency leads to scurvy. 

Niacin, which refers to nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, is the metabolic precursor to three nicotinamide coenzymes. These are essential for the activity of a large number of enzymes catalyzing redox reactions. Pellagra is a niacin deficiency disease. 

Deficiency - Pellagra is a state of niacin deficiency characterized by dermatitis, diarrhea, and dementia (manifestations of mucous membranes, Gl system, and CNS). In severe cases, confusion, delusions, disorientation, and hallucinations may occur. 

Deficiency symptoms In niacin deficiency, pellagra develops. The main... 

Nicotine forms a number of metabolites in the body, mainly in the liver. Approximate 75% of nicotine is oxidized to cotinine, which is the primary nicotine metabolite. Cotinine can be measured in the blood, urine, and saliva and this is used as a measure of nicotine exposure in tobacco users and in those exposed to secondhand smoke. The oxidation of nicotine also produces nicotinic acid. Nicotinic acid is vitamin B3 and has the common name niacin. Niacin deficiency results in a disease called pellagra, which is found in certain malnourished populations. Pellagras symptoms include dermatitis, diarrhea, sensitivity to light, and dementia. 

The classical niacin deficiency disease is pellagra, which is characterized by symptoms including diarrhoea, dermatitis, dementia and eventually death. High-protein diets are rarely deficient in niacin since, in addition to the preformed vitamin, such diets supply sufficient tryptophan to meet dietary requirements. Large doses of niacin can cause the dilation of capillaries, resulting in a painful tingling sensation. 

Niacin deficiency is known to produce pellagra, which presents dermatological, gastrointestinal, and neurological symptoms (19,93,96). Niacin has also been implicated in several nonvitamin functions, which are still under investigation. These include the reduction of serum cholesterol levels, vasodilation, and modulation of the effects of cancer and diabetes (93,96-99). 

Vitamin B3 is a pyridine compound found in fish, meat, liver, cereal husks, nuts, and pulses. Niacin deficiency produces pellagra, which manifests as dermatitis, diarrhea with enteritis, nausea and vomiting, dementia with headache, insomnia, loss of memory, and disturbances of motor and sensory neurons. Anemia and hypoprotcincrnia are common in pellagra chronic alcoholics have more tendency to suffer from pellagra. Com eaters suffer from pellagra because com... 

Tryptophan provides some of the human daily niacin requirements. Hence niacin deficiency with pellagra-like symptoms develops if the diet contains insufficient amounts of tryptophan. 

Vitamin B3, also known as niacin, helps maintain the normal function of the skin, nerves, and digestive system. The disease pellagra results from a severe niacin deficiency. People with pellagra experience mouth sores, skin irritation, and mental deterioration. Niacin has the following formula C6H5N02. Often vitamin... 

After it had been established that pellagra was a nutritional deficiency disease, the next problem was to discover the missing nutrient. Additional dietary protein was shown to be beneficial, thus it was concluded that pellagra was because of a protein deficiency. This view, and later that it was more specifically from a deficiency of tryptophan, was held for some time. In 1938, Spies and coworkers showed that nicotinic acid would cure pellagra thereafter it was gradually accepted that it was a niacin deficiency disease. 

The role of cADP-ribose and NAADP in regulating cytosolic calcium may provide an alternative explanation to the serotonin hypothesis for the psychiatric and neurological signs of the niacin deficiency disease pellagra (Section 8.5 Petersen and Cancela, 1999). 

Animals and yeasts can synthesize nicotinamide from tryptophan via hydroxyanthranilic acid (52) and quinolinic acid (53, Fig. 6A) (31), but the biosynthetic capacity of humans is limited. On a diet that is low in tryptophan, the combined contributions of endogenous synthesis and nutritional supply of precursors, such as nicotinic acid, nicotinamide, and nicotinamide riboside, may be insufficient, which results in cutaneous manifestation of niacin deficiency under the clinical picture of pellagra. Exogenous supply of nicotinamide riboside was shown to promote NAD+-dependent Sir2-function and to extend life-span in yeast without calorie restriction (32). 

DEFICIENCY Pellagra. Niacin may be produced from tryptophan (1-8). Niacin deficiency therefore is most likely in persons with low intake of both niacin and tryptophan. People who eat mainly com may develop niacin deficiency as com is low in tryptophan. In pellagra, the patient develops the 3 D s Diarrhea, Dermatitis, and Dementia. Diagnostic testing is difficult and may best be done by seeing improvement with niacin ingestion. 

Another disease of prominent dermatological interest is pellagra, in which pyridoxine deficiency seems to represent one of the pathogenetic factors even though of less importance than the fundamental niacin deficiency. For this reason Csermely and Zardi (G13) examined 12 patients with this disease in an attempt to demonstrate a pyridoxine deficiency by determining xanthurenic acid after loading wiA L-tryptophan (100 mg/kg). The results obtained (C13) show that an abnormal excretion of xanthurenic acid occurred in 5 of 12 patients. Furthermore, the clinical picture of the disease does not differ in patients with normal or abnormal xanthurenic acid output. These data provide no definite information in regard to this disease, in which more than one metabolite would have to be measured. 

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