Vitamin B1 in the animal organism

THE influence of diet on the vitamin B1 content of the tissues of rats has been studied by various workers. Osborne & Mendel [1923] found variations in the vitamin B1 content in the livers of rats depending on the allowance of this vitamin in the food, and Westenbrink [1932] made quantitative measurements of the relative amounts of vitamin B1 left in organs of rats which had been fed on a vitamin B,-deficient diet for varying periods. Recently, using the rat-growth method of assay developed by Chase & Sherman [1931], Brodie & MacLeod [1935] studied the distribution of vitamin B1 in the tissues of rats maintained on three types of diets containing different amounts of this vitamin. These authors reported that tissues from animals which had been kept on a vitamin Bl-free diet for 1 month were practically devoid of the vitamin. In the organs of rats fed on a "normal diet" (one-third whole milk powder, two-thirds whole wheat plus 2 % salt mixture) it was found that kidney was half, brain one-third and muscle one-tenth as rich as the heart or liver in vitamin B1 content. When a * The precise vitamin B1 content of this diet is unknown, it consists of brown bread, milk, meat, liver and cabbage.