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Fatty Livers as a Result of Thiamin Administration in Vitamin B₁ Deficiency of the Rat and the Chick^{1, 2,}

Four Figures

Department of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin, Madison

When thiamin was administered to vitamin B₁ deficient chicks or rats hydropic degeneration and fatty metamorphosis occurred in the parenchyma of the liver cells. This histologic reaction in the liver was not prevented by choline, lipocaic or by diets high in fat or in casein. Desiccated thyroid was effective in preventing the histologic reactions in the livers.

Chemical analyses on these livers showed that there was an increase in total fat, glycogen and moisture. The phospholipid and protein remained unchanged.

Thiamin therapy in experimental vitamin B₁ deficiency causes an excessive production of free fat in the liver cell which disrupts the normal cell structure.

² These studies were aided in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and in part by the Works Progress Administration.

Manuscript received 13 May 1939.