Release of thiamine and formation of a methylthiamine-like substance in the phrenic nerve-diaphragm preparation of the rat.

An increased formation of a radioactive methylthiamine-like substance (MTLS) in the end plate region of the rat diaphragm muscle and a release of radioactivity chromatographed as thiamine into the bath medium after a subcutaneous injection of 35S-thiamine were found after stimulation of the phrenic nerve. There was also an increased formation of the radioactive methylthiamine-like substance in the denervated diaphragm preparation incubated with radioactive acetylcholine (ACh) in comparison with the innervated diaphragm.