[Persistent erection in thiamine deficient rats (author's transl)].

Male Wistar rats weighing 75 to 85 g and maintained on a thiamine deficient diet for 33 days showed growth inhibition with the principal manifestation of significant weight loss from about the 28 day of experimental feeding. Symptoms of polyneuritis were also evident. On the 20th day of feeding and thereafter, rats on the thiamine deficient diet had a persistent erection. This was observed in 7% of the rats on a thiamine deficient group on day 20, 30.7% on day 25, 63.6% on day 30, and 100% on day 33. Effects of thiamine hydrochloride, in a single dose of 1 mg/kg given subcutaneously on the symptoms of thiamine deficiency were investigated. The treated rats recovered from the polyneuritic symptoms, and persistent erection disappeared in one out of 5 rats on the 3rd day and in 2 more rats on the 7th day. Persistent erection disappeared completely in rats maintained on a thiamine sufficient diet 3 days after single subcutaneous administration of thiamine HCl. These observations suggest that persistent erection was brought on as a consequence of thiamine deficiency.