title: The essentiality of vitamin D metabolites for embryonic chick development.
abstract: Laying hens maintained on 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 as their sole source of vitamin D produce eggs which appear normal but which produce embryos having a defective upper mandible and which die at 18 to 19 days of embryonic life. Hens maintained on 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, on the other hand, produce normal embryos. Hens fed a vitamin D deficient diet produce eggs which develop the same embryonic defect. Injection of the affected eggs from the 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 fed hens with vitamin D3, 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 greatly increases the percentage of normal embryos. It therefore appears that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 is not transferred from hen to egg in sufficient amounts to support embryonic development and that vitamin D or its metabolites, or both, are necessary for normal chick embryo development.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D002762:Cholecalciferol / Q000172:deficiency*; D004100:Dihydroxycholecalciferols / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism; D006887:Hydroxycholecalciferols / Q000378:metabolism; D008334:Mandible / Q000002:abnormalities; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000196:embryology*
chemical_list: D004100:Dihydroxycholecalciferols; D006887:Hydroxycholecalciferols; D002762:Cholecalciferol