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Glutathione and iron at the crossroad of redox metabolism in rats infected by Trypanosoma evansi

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in hematological and biochemical parameters of blood during acute Trypanosoma evansi infection in Wistar rats. The end points studied were hematologic parameters, red blood cell fragility, iron content, and glutathione and lipid peroxidation levels. Forty-eight animals were infected with trypomastigotes and distributed into five groups according to the level of parasitemia. Twelve non-inoculated animals were used as control. Parasitemia increased progressively, reaching highest scores at 15 days post-inoculation. At this point, several deleterious effects were observed such as an increase in iron content, in osmotic fragility, and in lipid peroxidation index, while glutathione decreased drastically. These changes were highly correlated to parasitemia (p < 0.0001) and among each other (p ≤ 0.001). Hematological indices (Hb, packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cells (RBC), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration) were also correlated to parasitemia (p ≤ 0.0003) but failed to correlate to the other variables. Along with increase in iron, RBC fragility produced a decrease in RBC, PCV, and Hb, but not in mean corpuscular volume. Decrease in glutathione was negatively correlated to the end products of lipid peroxidation, clearly indicating the establishment of a pro-oxidant condition. The results show that the infection causes hematological impairments, increases iron and osmotic fragility, along with marked oxidative stress in red blood cells of rats inoculated with T. evansi.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by CNPq, FAPESC, and Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina.Valesca Anschau was a fellowship from Secretaria de Educação do Estado de Santa Catarina.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Bioquímica de Hemoparasitas e Vetores—LABHEV, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Avenida Luiz de Camões, no. 2090, Bairro Conta Dinheiro, 88520-000, Lages, SC, Brazil

    Valesca Anschau, Ana Paula Perin, Mayara Vieira Tizatto & Luiz Claudio Miletti

  2. Departamento de Bioquímica—CCB, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, 88040-900, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil

    Alcir Luiz Dafré

  3. Laboratório de Atividade Biológica de Substâncias, Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina, Bairro Camobi—Prédio 20, Sala 4232, 89600-000, Joaçaba, SC, Brazil

    Fabíola Iagher

  4. Departamento de Produção Animal e Alimentos, Centro de Ciências Agroveterinárias, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Av. Luiz de Camões, 2090 Bairro Conta Dinheiro, Lages, SC, 88520-000, Brazil

    Luiz Claudio Miletti

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  1. Valesca Anschau
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Correspondence to Luiz Claudio Miletti.

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Anschau, V., Dafré, A.L., Perin, A.P. et al. Glutathione and iron at the crossroad of redox metabolism in rats infected by Trypanosoma evansi . Parasitol Res 112, 2361–2366 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3400-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3400-9

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