Thiamine pyrophosphate-dependent and thiamine metabolizing enzymes in the deafferented cerebellum and in the intact cerebral cortex of rat

The effects of chemical (CD) and surgical (SD) deafferentation of the cerebellum on thiamine pyrophosphate (ThPP)-dependent enzymes (transketolase, TK; pyruvate-, PDH, and alpha-ketoglutarate, alpha KGDH, dehydrogenases) and thiamine (Th) metabolizing enzymes (thiamine pyrophosphokinase, ThPK; thiamine mono-, ThMPase, and pyrophosphatases, ThPPase) were evaluated in vitro in rats in steady state conditions. The enzymes were also determined in the intact cerebral cortex of the same animals. CD was carried out by i.p. injection of 3-acetylpyridine, followed by harmaline and niacinamide. SD was carried out by complete dissection of the peduncles of the left cerebellar hemisphere. Chemical and surgical cerebellar deafferentations significantly lowered the contents of both Th-metabolizing and ThPP-dependent enzymes in the cerebellum without modifying those of the cerebral cortex. ThPK and TK, which are particularly concentrated in neurons, were the most affected enzymes. The decrease in ThPP-dependent enzymes shown here is associated with the slowing down of the Th phosphorylation-dephosphorylation cycle and with no modification in the ThPP content in the cerebellum, both of which were found in a previous study. Cerebellar deafferentation seems to only affect the apoenzyme moiety of the enzymes.