Remarkable activation of polyamine biosynthesis in hematopoiesis and hyperplasia of spleen in mice with hemolytic anemia caused by infection with Plasmodium berghei.

Abstract

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity was markedly induced in the spleen of mice infected with Plasmodium berghei, showing maximal activity at 8 days after the infection. The increase of spleen weight, on the other hand, reached its peak after 14 days of infection. In the blood of P. berghei-infected mice, no increase of ODC activity was observed. This indicated that ODC was induced in the spleen cells, but not in the parasites themselves which existed in the blood. Polyamines (putrescine, spermadine and spermine) were also elevated in the spleen following induction of the ODC activity. On the other hand, increases of ODC activity and spleen weight were observed in the spleen of mice with hemolytic anemia induced by acetylphenylhydrazine, but the extent of these increases were smaller than those in the spleen of mice infected with P. berghei. The present results suggest that increases in ODC activity and polyamine levels in the spleen of P. berghei-infected mice are related to hyperplasia of the spleen (splenomegaly) where the formation of leukocytes and erythrocytes (hematopoiesis) was dramatically stimulated by the infection.

• Authors: H Hibasami, T Tsukada, Y Nishiguchi, M Sakurai, S Shirakawa, K Nakashima
• Journal: International journal for parasitology (Int J Parasitol) Vol. 24 Issue 2 Pg. 213-7 (Apr 1994) ISSN: 0020-7519 [Print] England
• PMID: 8026898 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Polyamines
• Ornithine Decarboxylase

Topics

• Anemia, Hemolytic (etiology, metabolism, pathology)
• Animals
• Hematopoiesis
• Hyperplasia
• Malaria (blood, complications)
• Male
• Mice
• Mice, Inbred BALB C
• Ornithine Decarboxylase (metabolism)
• Plasmodium berghei
• Polyamines (metabolism)
• Spleen (metabolism, pathology)
• Splenomegaly