THE EFFECTOF THE DURATION OF VITAMIN-ADEFICIENCYIN FEMALE RABBITSUPON THE INCIDENCEOF HYDROCEPHALUS INTHEIRYOUNG

Whenfemale rabbits aresubjected toanexperimentalvitamin-A deficiency before mating, their offspring showsigns ofa nervous disorder from three tosixweeksafter birth (Millen, Woollam, andLamming, 1953;Lamming,Woollam,and Millen, 1954).Thisdisorder wasattributed to hydrocephalus whichwaspresent intheyoung animals. Inasubsequent paper(Millen andothers, 1954)itwasreported thata congenital hydrocephalus wasconstantly foundinyoungstillborn rabbits whentheir damhadbeenmaintained on a vitamin-A deficient dietforperiods offrom 14to38weeksbefore mating. Theinitial observations on theproduction of hydrocephalus byamaternal vitamin-A deficiency weremadeona smallnumberoflitters froman inbred strain ofrabbits. Attention wasdrawn totheneedforthesubstantiation ofthese findings (Annotation, Brit. med.J.,1954). Inorder, therefore, tostudymoreclosely withlarger numbers thisrelationship betweenmaternal vitamin-A deficiency andtheincidence ofhydrocephalus in theyounga colony ofrabbits wasestablished in1953.Inthis papertheeffect ofmaternal hypovitaminosis A upontheincidence ofhydrocephalus intheyounginalarge numberoflitters isreported.