Abolghasem
Mohammadi1, Claudia Zwingmann1
1Dpartement
de mdicine, Universit de Montral, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Wernicke's
encephalopathy is a neurological disorder which is characterized by
disturbances in consciousness and region-selective brain lesions. Brain
damage is associated with a deficiency in thiamine, an essential vitamine in
carbohydrate metabolism. Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy was used to assess
carbon fluxes and cellular energy state of thiamine-deficient cultured rat
cerebellar granule neurons. The data show that neuronal energy failure and
death likely result from a primary impairment of neuronal a-KGDH causing
impaired carbon flux from glucose/pyruvate through PDH, decreased catabolism
of glutamine, and lactate accumulation. Under hyperglycemic conditions,
however, alternative explanations to the lactic acidosis hypothesis have to
be considered.