BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON VITAMIN METABOLISMS IN POULTRY URINE

III. METABOLIC FATE OF THIAMINE-S³⁵ IN POULTS AFTER ADMINISTRATION OF THIAMINE-S³⁵

Abstract

1. Thiamine-deficient poults operated to have artificial anus were used, and the thiamine levels in blood and urine of the birds were studied.
2. At first, a control test of determining the radioactivity excretion in the droppings after oral administration of thiamine-S³⁵ or TPD-S³⁵ was carried out in ordinary intact poults. The radioactivity excretion in the droppings was found to be greater in the case of thiamine-S³⁵ than in that of TPD-S³⁵.
3. S³⁵-Radioactivity excretion in the urine and feces after administration of thiamine-S³⁵ in the poults operated to have artificial anus was studied. Greater urinary excretion of the radioactivity was seen in the poults receiving thiamine-S³⁵, whereas it was very poor in the birds receiving TPD-S³⁵. Further, the proportion of the radioactivity excretion in urine and feces was determined. The more the intake of thiamine-S³⁵, the higher the fecal excretion of the radioactivity. In addition, the radioactivity distribution in various tissues was always higher in the poults receiving TPD-S³⁵ than those receiving thiamine-S³⁵.
4. The relative urinary excretion of thiamine-S³⁵ was extremely lower than that of S³⁵.
5. In the control tests for thiamine-S³⁵ excretion in the droppings of the thiamine-deficient poults without operation, total excretion of thiamine was rather low as compared with the radioactivity excreted in the droppings.
6. In the tests for relative thiamine-S³⁵ excretion to the total radioactivity in urine and feces in thiamine-defiicient poults having artificial anus showed that higher urinary excretion of the radioactivity was seen in the birds orally receiving thiamine-S³⁵, whereas the total excretion of thiamine in urine was extremely low in the poults receiving thiamine-S³⁵.
These findings suggest a marked decomposition of thiamine in the digestive tract of poults.