Do Dietary Levels of Pantothenic Acid Regulate Its Intestinal Uptake in Mice?

The study investigated whether dietary levels of pantothenic acid (PA) regulated its intestinal uptake in mice. Mice were fed diets with high, normal, and deficient PA levels. PA uptake was found to be Na+-dependent and saturable along the small intestine. Severe PA deficiency, induced by antibiotic treatment, led to symptoms such as weight loss, hair loss, eye exudation, diarrhea, hindleg paralysis, splenomegaly, and eventually death. Dietary PA levels did not affect intestinal PA uptake at 5 µM, and a minor increase in uptake observed during late-stage deficiency was deemed physiologically insignificant. The findings suggested that intestinal transporters for PA might not be regulated by dietary levels, unlike other water-soluble vitamins absorbed predominantly by carrier-mediated transport.