Relationship between Thiamine Deficient Cardiac Lesions and Myocardial and Blood Pyruvic Acid Contents

Abstract

To study the correlation between thiamine deficient cardiac lesions and pyruvic acid contents, blood and organ pyruvic acid contents in normal, thiamine deficient and control pair fed rats were determined.
1) Pyruvic acid increased generally in thiamine deficient groups but did not in control pair fed groups.
2) In cases in which thiamine deficient symptoms were lacking, there were hardly any pyruvic acid increase.
3) Myocardial and blood pyruvic acid contents were markedly high and pyruvic acid ratio between heart muscle and blood was lowest in cardiac lesion groups, the severer the bradycardia and cardiac hyper-tropy the higher the myocardial and blood pyruvic acid contents, and myocardial pyruvic acid contents were especially high in ST elevation cases.
4) In thiamine deficient last stage cases, variations of pyruvic acid contents considered as agonal phenomena were observed.
5) The above results indicate that pyruvic acid accumulation in heart muscle and blood, especially in heart muscle, is the strong factor of thiamine deficient cardiac lesions.