The B Vitamins: Pyridoxine and Pantothenic acid

Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6). This vitamin has been shown to be an essential growth factor for all experimental and domestic animals so far investigated. It is also known to be required by human beings for the metabolism of amino acids including the conversion of tryptophan to nicotinic acid. Pyridoxine was first identified in 1934 as the factor in the ‘vitamin B2 complex’, distinct from thiamin and riboflavin that would cure a specific nutritional dermatitis in rats; it was designated vitamin B6. In 1936 the vitamin was concentrated by Birch and György. Soon afterwards it was isolated and synthesized.