Changes in the hippocampus induced by glucose in thiamin deficient rats detected by MRI

Development and Resolution of Brain Lesions Caused by Pyrithiamine- and Dietary-Induced Thiamine Deficiency and Alcohol Exposure in the Alcohol-Preferring Rat: A Longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Study

“…Although these radiological signs concurred with human clinical radiological signs of WE, the resolution and registration of the images in that study precluded localizing the hyperintensities to specific brain structures. Another longitudinal MRI experiment conducted with female wild-type Wistar rats used a multi-echo image acquisition sequence permitting calculation of transverse relaxation time (Jordan et al, 1998). Despite limited brain coverage, this study revealed bilaterally distributed hyperintense signal on T2-weighted images, indicative of tissue pathology in thalamus, hypothalamus, collicular bodies, and hippocampus.…”

“…Such neuropathology is accelerated with the dietary thiamine antagonist, pyrithiamine (Langlais and Savage, 1995;Langlais and Zhang, 1997;Lee et al, 2001Lee et al, , 1995. Glucose administration to rats made thiamine deficient with pyrithiamine treatment produced impairment of the bloodbrain barrier, observed on T1-weighted images (used for tissue depiction) collected at high scanner field strength (4.7 T) (Zelaya et al, 1995), and hyperintensities in the hippocampus as well as in the thalamus, hypothalamus, collicular bodies, observed on T2-weighted images (used for fluid depiction), that endured for at least 1 month (Jordan et al, 1998). These structural changes were accompanied by a significant increase in the resonance reflecting the combination of glutamate, glutamine, and GABA detected with MRS (Rose et al, 1993).…”

In vivo and in vitro proton NMR spectroscopic studies of thiamine-deficient rat brains

“…Brain has a high level of metabolism for its function, and the oxidation of glucose is the only substantial source for energy production. Therefore in TD, intracellular energy levels of neurons may be severely compromised by the incapacitation of thiamine-dependent enzymes involved in energy production (21)(22)(23)(24)(25).…”

Glucose before Thiamine for Wernicke Encephalopathy: A Literature Review

“…The animal studies were rated the best overall, with outstanding quality, and papers involving animal models have illustrated changes in the brains of thiaminedepleted rats (acidosis in the medial thalamus, hyperintensity on magnetic resonance imaging in the thalamus, hypothalamus, and hippocampus, impairment of bloodbrain barrier), within 40 min after glucose infusion, and posit several mechanisms for these changes (16)(17)(18)(19). These papers also note worsening of symptoms in the rats after glucose loading.…”

“…The 40-min effect time, likewise, is not generalizable to human patients. Table 3 summarizes the level of evidence in the 19 articles included in this review (4,9,10,(12)(13)(14)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29).…”