The rapid improvement in the clinical manifestations of thiamine deficiency with thiamine supplementation is well known. To study this process in more detail, we rendered rats thiamine deficient either by dietary deprivation alone (DD) or, in addition, by daily pyrithiamine administration (DD + PT). We observed the cerebral metabolic and histological responses of these rats after 1 or 7 days of thiamine supplementation both prior to and at the onset of clinical sequelae. The cerebral metabolic response to thiamine deficiency and replenishment was determined with the [14C]deoxyglucose technique for measurement of local cerebral glucose utilization (LCGU). Our results indicate that thiamine replenishment reverses the LCGU changes resulting from thiamine deprivation of short duration. However, prolonged thiamine deprivation may result in LCGU changes that are not completely reversible by thiamine replenishment, before the appearance of the clinical or histological consequences of thiamine deficiency.