The British Journal of Psychiatry 139: 156-159 (1981)
© 1981 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome in monozygotic twins: a biochemical peculiarity
D Leigh, A McBurney and H McIlwain
A pair of monozygotic twins, one suffering from the Wernicke-Korsakoff
syndrome, verified at autopsy, and the other healthy, was studied
biochemically. The erythrocyte transketolase of each twin showed
abnormalities, though these differed in the two individuals. In the healthy
twin, the basal transketolase was low, but responded normally to thiamine
pyrophosphate (TPP) added in vitro. In the twin with the Wernicke-Korsakoff
syndrome the basal level of the enzyme and its response in vitro were
normal, but a period of treatment with thiamine
tetrahydrofurfuryldisulphide, led to loss of the in vitro response. It is
suggested that, initially, an inborn error of metabolism may have been
common to both twins.