Linked Life Data

9699919

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/9699919

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
1998-10-15
pubmed:abstractText
Wernicke's Encephalopathy (WE) is a serious neurological disorder resulting from thiamine deficiency, encountered in chronic alcoholics and in patients with grossly impaired nutritional status. Neuropathologic studies as well as Magnetic Resonance Imaging reveal selective diencephalic and brainstem lesions in patients with WE. The last decade has witnessed major advances in the understanding of pathophysiologic mechanisms linking thiamine deficiency to the selective brain lesions characteristic of WE. Activities of the thiamine-dependent enzyme alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, a rate-limiting tricarboxylic acid cycle enzyme are significantly reduced in autopsied brain tissue from patients with WE and from rats treated with the central thiamine antagonist, pyrithiamine. In the animal studies, evidence suggests that such enzyme deficits result in focal lactic acidosis, cerebral energy impairment and depolarization resulting from increased release of glutamate in vulnerable brain structures. It has been proposed that this depolarization may result in N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor-mediated excitotoxicity as well as increased expression of immediate early genes such as c-fos and c-jun resulting in apoptotic cell death. Other mechanisms involved in thiamine deficiency-induced cell loss may involve free radicals and alterations of the blood-brain barrier. Additional studies are still required to identify the site of the initial cellular insult and to explain the predilection of diencephalic and brainstem structures due to thiamine deficiency.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jun
pubmed:issn
0885-7490
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
13
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
97-122
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1998
pubmed:articleTitle
Mechanisms of neuronal cell death in Wernicke's encephalopathy.
pubmed:affiliation
Neuroscience Research Unit, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (Campus Saint-Luc), Quebec, Canada. hazella@ere.umontreal.ca
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't