Isolation of the thiazole moiety from the urinary metabolite of thiothiamine.

It has been demonstrated that a large amount of thiamine is excreted in the urine without degradation when the vitamin is subcutaneously injected. On the other hand, a relatively small amount of thiothiamine appears in the urine, when it is given by injection, suggesting the in vivo decomposition of thiothiamine. However, in the case of oral administration, thiamine is largely excreted in the feces, whereas thiothiamine mainly in the urine. It is therefore presumed that the thiocompound is readily absorbed from the intestinal tract (2). Since thiothiamine has no vitamin activity, it is of interest to investigate the metabolism of the thiocompound as com pared to that of thiamine. In the present paper some findings will be described on the metabolite of thiothiamine in rats.