INDUCED THIAMIN DEFICIENCY IN LAMBS

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Abstract
By following a feeding regimen which consistently induced polioencephalomalacia in pre-ruminant lambs it was possible to study certain characteristics just before the terminal stage in poliocencephalomalacia. There was always a marked deficit in erythrocyte precursors in bone marrow and this preceded any pathological changes in the brain. Erythrocyte transketolase activity decreased in control lambs, and decreased to an even greater extent in thiamine-deficient lambs. Glucose was the only substrate of those measured which was used by the brain, and its rate of use was not affected by thiamine deficiency. After a single i.v. injection of 35S-thiamine, the decrease of 35S in the plasma was consistent with its dispersal into 2 pools: 1/2 of the time of disappearance of 35S into the slowly equilibrating pool was less in thiamine-deficient lambs than in their controls. Characteristics which were not altered in thiamine deficiency were concentrations of Ca and Mg in various regions of the brain and concentrations of Ca, Mg, Na and K in plasma.