title: Glucose induced IEG expression in the thiamin-deficient rat brain.
abstract: Glucose loading of rats made thiamin deficient by dietary deprivation of thiamin and the administration of pyrithiamin (40 microg/100 g, i.p.) precipitates an acute neuropathy, a model of Wernicke's encephalopathy in man (Zimitat and Nixon, Metab. Brain Dis. 1999;14:1-20). Immunohistochemical detection of Fos proteins was used as a marker to identify neuronal populations in the thiamin-deficient rat brain affected by glucose loading. As thiamin deficiency progressed, the extent and intensity of Fos-like immunoreactivity (FLI) in brain structures typically affected by thiamin deficiency (the thalamus, mammillary bodies, inferior colliculus, vestibular nucleus and inferior olives) were markedly increased when compared to thiamin-replete controls. Glucose loading for 1-3 days further increased the intensity of FLI in these same regions, consistent with a dependence of Fos expression on carbohydrate metabolism as well as on thiamin deficiency. The timed acute changes that follow a bolus glucose load administered to thiamin-deficient animals may provide a sequential account of events in the pathogenesis of brain damage in this model of Wernicke's encephalopathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Brisbane, Australia 4072.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zimitat
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Nixon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000963:Antimetabolites / Q000494:pharmacology; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D017781:Genes, Immediate-Early; D016762:Genes, fos; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011745:Pyrithiamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013832:Thiamine Deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014899:Wernicke Encephalopathy / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D000963:Antimetabolites; D011745:Pyrithiamine; D005947:Glucose