Studies in the Metabolism of Vitamin B12.

This book is devoted almost exclusively to studies of the absorption and elimination of vitamin B₁₂, evaluation of the methods employed for such studies, and their application to patients with pernicious anemia and other clinical states resulting in defective B₁₂ absorption.

After reviewing the pertinent physiological literature, the author reports his clinical results employing the Schilling test. Some of the variables of this method, such as the timing of the "flushing" dose of "cold" vitamin are singled out and examined experimentally. The plasma absorption test is then described and the clinical results obtained by means of this procedure are reported and compared to those obtained by means of the Schilling test. These analyses occupy more than three fifths of the total length of the text. The remaining chapters are devoted to description of the organ distribution and "kinetics" of ingested radiocyanocobalamin, to some of the mechanisms which appear