Abstract
In previous reports, metabolic disturbances of pyruvic acid and α-ketoglutaric acid have been shown to exist in liver diseases. Present study deals with the therapeutic effect of thiamine, thiaminepropyldisulfide and cocarboxylase on these metabolic disturbances in patients with chronic hepatitis. The influence of these vitamins in rats with experimental chronic liver damage caused by CCl_4 was also studied. The metabolic disturbances of α-keto acid were often normalized by the administration of thiamine, thiamine propyldisulfide and cocarboxylase, the latter being most effective. Patients with abnormalities in α-keto acid metabolism, showing various symptoms including fatiguability, nervousness, abdominal discomfort, in spite of the ordinary treatment, were given daily injection of cocarboxylase, flavinadeninedinucleotide and flavinmononucleotide for seven days. By this type of treatment, remarkable improvement in clinical symptoms and the metabolism of α-keto acids were observed in most cases. The significance of the disturbance of α-keto acid metabolism in chronic hepatitis was discussed.
