General description

Thiamine or Vitamin B1 is a positively charged and essential constituent for all tissues. It is present at higher levels in skeletal muscles, liver, kidney, heart, and brain. Thiamine is composed of a pyrimidine ring linked to a thiazole ring via a methylene bridge.

Application

Thiamine hydrochloride has been used as a component:

of the vitamin-concentrated stock solution for the preparation of Hv-Ca medium for culturing Haloferax volcanii
of the tris-acetate-phosphate (TAP) medium for culturing Chlamydomonas nivalis
of modified Bold 3N medium for culturing Chlorella minutissima

Biochem/physiol Actions

Thiamine is converted to thiamine diphosphate post-movement into the cellular membranes by thiamine diphosphokinase. Thiamine diphosphate, an active cofactor is essential for the mechanism of many enzymes involved in the citric acid cycle, the glycolytic pathway, the degradation of branched-chain amino acids, and the pentose phosphate pathway. Thiamine is involved in converting food into energy required for functioning the central and peripheral nervous systems. Lower levels of this vitamin are associated with delirium, Wernicke′s encephalopathy, and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Thiamine hydrochloride is required to support energy metabolism and amino acid synthesis in cultured cells. It is present in many classical and serum-free formulations.