Changes in brain lipid composition in thiamine deficient rats.

Brain lipid composition was studied in thiamine deficient rats treated with thiamine antimetabolites (oxythiamine: OT, and pyrithiamine: PT) and thiamine deficient diet (TDD). After intraperitoneal injection of OT (40 mg/kg/day) or TDD feeding for 6 days, body weight gain decreased. However, the PT (500 micrograms/kg/day) treated rats or the pair fed control (PFC: TDD + thiamine of 5 mg/kg, i.p.) showed no decrease in body weight gain compared with the regular diet control (C). Brain lipid levels (total lipid, total cholesterol, triglyceride, phospholipid, sphingomyelin and cerebroside) were examined in four brain regions (cerebral cortex, subcortical structure, brain stem and cerebellum). Total lipid level increased in four regions in OT or TDD treated rats, but total lipid level in the cerebellum in PT treated rats decreased. Total cholesterol level increased in all treated rats, while the triglyceride level in the brain stem decreased dramatically in OT or TDD treated rats. Cerebroside levels of four regions in the PT, OT or TDD group remarkably decreased, and PFC rats showed a significant improvement of the decrease in cerebroside level. It is conceivable that these changes in brain lipid composition provided some clues for the histological and morphological changes of the brain as manifested by the myelin degradation in acute thiamine deficiency.