Thiamine and Thiamine Diphosphate in Liver and Brain from Rats Treated with CCl4.

Abstract

The amount of thiamine and thiamine diphosphate in liver and brain of rats and their distribution in liver cytoplasm fractions has been studied. The supernatant (including the microsomal fraction) contains nearly twice as much thiamine diphosphate as the mitochondria, while thiamine is present almost exclusively in the supernatant In rat livers with fatty infiltration, obtained by injections of carbon tetra-chloride (CCL4), the amount of thiamine diphosphate is slightly reduced. The decrease happens mainly in the mitochondria. An increased decomposition of thiamine diphosphate is found in fatty infiltrated liver homo-genates as compared with normal ones. No significant difference is found in thiamine diphosphate concentration between brains from normal and CCl4-treated rats. The amount of thiamine is very low in either case.