Thiamine Deficiency and Experimental Cardiac Necrosis 1

Summary Hearts of animals subjected to a moderate thiamine deficiency were resistant to the necrogenic effect of isoproterenol which at the dose level used (80 mg/kg of body wt) produced massive infarcts in animals fed a normal control diet. The reason for the apparent protective effect is unclear. It is postulated that cardiac tissue from rats in early thiamine deficiency may have an increased capacity for anaerobic glycolysis, as part of the metabolic response to a decrease in the activity of enzymes essential for oxidative phosphorylation. This capability is not shared by cardiac tissue from control animals.