Effect of thiamine deficiency on canine gastric secretion of acid

Abstract

A study was undertaken to determine the effect of thiamine deficiency on the hydrochloric acid output of vagally denervated gastric pouches (Heidenhain-type) and vagally innervated gastric pouches (Pavlov-type) in dogs. Responses of both types of pouches to injection of 0.05 mg of histamine/kg of body weight and the maximal secretory capacity of both types after histamine were unaltered during the deficiency state. A degree of thiamine deficiency sufficient to produce anorexia and neuritis was without effect on the secretory response of canine gastric mucosa to histamine. The hydrochloric acid output of vagally innervated pouches during nervous stimulation caused by insulin-induced hypoglycemia was drastically reduced as soon as thiamine deficiency developed, while the response to bethanechol chloride was little, if at all, affected. It is concluded that the vagal secretory mechanism participates in the general neural failure of thiamine deficiency and that this failure most likely is in the neurons of the vagal nuclei.