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K. G. Prasannan ¹, R. Sundaresan ¹, K. Venkatesan ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Biochemistry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry-6, IN
2 JALMA Institute of Leprosy, Indian Council of Medical Research, Agra, IN

Abstract

The exocrine and endocrine functions of pancreas involving protein biosynthesis and secretion are energy-dependent processes which need glucose metabolism. It has been observed in this laboratory that thiamine deficiency in rats not only raises the levels of digestive enzymes in pancreatic tissue but also enhances their secretion in vitro when incubated in a medium containing glucose. It was therefore considered interesting to find out how glucose metabolism is related to the protein production and secretion in this tissue and the present study was taken up. The results of the study show that the incorporation of ¹⁴C of glucose-U ¹⁴C into carbondioxide, pyruvate and secretory proteins are increased in pancreatic slices of thiamine-deficient rats as compared to that of normal and pair-fed controls.

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R. Sundaresan ¹, K. G. Prasannan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Biochemistry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry-6, IN

Abstract

Anorexia has been considered as one of the prominent symptoms associated with beri beri in man and experimental thiamine deficiency in various species. It is not known whether such anorexia is due to a defect in the availability of digestive enzymes from pancreas. It has already been observed in this laboratory that feeding of a thiamine-free diet to rats for a period of five weeks results in a considerable decrease in the thiamine content (by 73%) and transketolase activity (by 63%) in pancreas, this decrease being greater than that in many other tissues of the deficient rats. The present experiments were undertaken to explore the relationship between thiamine status and levels of digestive enzymes in pancreas.

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