Thiamine triphosphate deficiency in subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy.

Extracts of tissue fluids from a patient with subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy inhibit thiamine pyrophosphate-adenosine triphosphate phosphotransferase of rat brain. Brain tissue from the patient, in contrast to normal brain tissue, contained essentially no thiamine triphosphate, although thiamine and its other phosphate esters were present in normal concentrations. These findings suggest a relation between this disease and thiamine triphosphate.