Enzyme-cytochemical study of small ganglion cells in experimental thiamine deficiency: concerning the pain mechanism.

In an effort to clarify the mechanism of pain accompanying thiamine deficiency, thiamine monophosphatase (TMPase) activity was demonstrated, by means of electron microscopic cytochemistry, in small ganglion cells in pyrithiamine-treated thiamine-deficient rats. TMPase activity was seen to be present in the reticular part of the Golgi complex and vesicle-like bodies around the trans side of the Golgi complex. By the 10th day after the initial pyrithiamine treatment, a significant increase in the number of TMPase-positive vesicle-like body was observed. These results indicate that thiamine deficiency causes a disturbance in the transportation and/or production of TMPase, which is an integral part of the synaptic transmission of the nociception impulses.