Is calcium deficiency related to thiamine-dependent neuropathy in pigeon?

In convulsive pigeons on a diet of polished rice, a significant decrease of thiamine and calcium in the central nervous system rather than in peripheral nervous system was observed. In subcellular fractions of telencephalon in these same pigeons, thiamine and calcium levels decreased in the myelin-membrane and synaptosomal fractions. When radioactive thiamine was injected into the pieon during a convulsion, radio-activity was most prominent in the telencephalon and in subcellular fractions, in the myelin-membrane and synaptosomal fractions of telencephalon immediately after recovery from the convulsion. When calsium was added to the polished rice, the pigeons never had such convulsions. Thiamine and calsium concentrations in myelin-membrane and synaptosomal fractions of telencephalon of calcium-rice fed pigeons were significantly higher than in convulsive pigeons. It is suggested that calsium plays a role in binding the protein and thiamine which is related to the sodium transport system of excitable membranes.