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© 1990 Medical Council on Alcohol

research-article

BLOOD THIAMINE AND THIAMINE PHOSPHATE CONCENTRATIONS IN EXCESSIVE DRINKERS WITH OR WITHOUT PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY

RENÉE E. POUPON*, GUY GERVAISE{dagger}, PASCALE RIANT{ddagger}, GEORGES HOUIN§ and JEAN-PAUL TILLEMENT{ddagger}

*INSERM, Unité 21/16, avenue Paul-Vaillant-Couturier 94807 Villejuif Cedex
{dagger}Centre Hospitalier Général Louis Doumergue 97220 Trinité, Martinique
{ddagger}Hôpital Intercommunal, 40, avenue de Verdun 94000 Créteil
§Unité de Pharmacocinétique Clinique, CHU Purpan 31000 Toulouse, France

Received 6 February 1990; first review notified 6 July 1990; accepted 24 July 1990

The aim of our study was to answer the following questions: (1) is thiamine deficient in chronic excessive drinkers; and (2) is peripheral neuropathy associated with thiamine deficiency or with alcohol intake itself? We performed direct assays of blood concentrations of free thiamine and thiamine phosphate in excessive drinkers with or without peripheral neuropathy and in control subjects. We found no difference in free thiamine concentrations between excessive drinkers with.and without neuropathy, and no difference in free thiamine concentrations between the two groups of excessive drinkers and the control group. By contrast, a deficiency in thiamine phosphate was observed in each group of excessive drinkers compared to the control group. This was reflected in blood concentrations of total thiamine which were also lower in excessive drinkers than in controls. Finally, the thiamine phosphate: free thiamine ratio was slightly but significantly lower in the two groups of excessive drinkers than in the control group. Both groups of excessive drinkers showed typical moderate liver disease of alcoholic origin. In conclusion, the free thiamine fraction was not diminished in this group of alcoholic hospital inpatients. Thiamine deficiency would not therefore appear to play a determining role in the onset of peripheral neuropathy. In contrast, the phosphorylated fraction was slightly reduced, probably owing to the liver disease in these subjects. Contrary to studies using indirect assay techniques, our results suggest that thiamine deficiency is either slight or absent in chronic drinkers.


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