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Hepatotoxicity of ricin, saporin or a saporin immunotoxin: xanthine oxidase activity in rat liver and blood serum

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Abstract

Male Wistar rats each received an i.p. injection of the ribosome-inactivating proteins ricin or saporin, or a Ber-H2 (anti-CD30)-saporin immunotoxin at a dose corresponding to three times the LD50 calculated for mice. Animals were killed 24, 48 or 72 h after treatment. Histological examination showed hepatic necrosis in all treated animals, although the sinusoidal lining was affected only in ricin-poisoned rats. The activities of xanthine dehydrogenase (D-form) and oxidase (O form) were determined spectrophotometrically in liver and serum samples. In ricin-treated animals the liver enzyme was progressively converted from the D- to the O-form, which accounted for more than 60% of total activity after 48 h of poisoning, whilst no change in the xanthine oxidase activity was found in the serum. In the liver of rats treated with free or Ber-H2-conjugated saporin, the D-form was more than 75%, as in normal animals. In the same animals the serum xanthine oxidase activity was up to three-fold control values. The determination of serum xanthine oxidase may prove helpful in the evaluation of liver damage in patients treated with immunotoxins. It may become a diagnostic tool for the differential diagnosis of liver diseases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Bologna, Via S. Giacomo, 14, I-40126, Bologna, Italy

    M. G. Battelli, L. Buonamici, L. Polito, A. Bolognesi & F. Stirpe

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  1. M. G. Battelli
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  2. L. Buonamici
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  3. L. Polito
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  4. A. Bolognesi
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  5. F. Stirpe
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Battelli, M.G., Buonamici, L., Polito, L. et al. Hepatotoxicity of ricin, saporin or a saporin immunotoxin: xanthine oxidase activity in rat liver and blood serum. Vichows Archiv A Pathol Anat 427, 529–535 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00199514

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00199514

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