Biochemistry of mansonic schistosomiasis: V - mitochondrial activity in livers and kidneys of marmosets (Callitrix penicillata) infected with Schistosoma mansoni

Abstract

Mitochondria isolated from livers and kidneys of marmosets (Callitrix penicillata) wich were infected with 200 cercariae were studied, not less than 80 but not more than 100 days after infection, with regard to their endogenous respiratory activities. Sodium succinate and alpha keto glutarate were used as substrates. Each experiment was compared with a control specimen, using isolated mitochondria of livers and kidneys from non infected animals. The measurement of the respiratory activity was made polarographically and expressed in microliters of oxygen consumed per milligram of total protein per minute. The results showed that the endogenous respiration of mitochondria isolated from infected animals was always greater than those observed in the control specimens. A stimulus of 217% to the liver and of 84% to the kidney were observed. The sodium succinate activated the respiration of the control livers approximately 85% and provoked an inhibition of 39% in the infected marmoset. Concerning the kidneys this same substrate stimulated both, about 84% and 94% respectively. The alpha keto glutarate stimulated the hepatic mitochondrial respiration approximately 48% and the renal respiration about 84%. In reference to the schistosomotic animals, the alpha keto glutarate did not modify the mitochondrial respiratory capacity of the kidney but did inhibit that of the liver by 58%. The data obtained from our experimental conditions suggest that the liver suffers, much more, in biochemical terms, from mansonic schistosomiasis, than do the kidneys. The activities of the succinate dehydrogenase system and of the alpha keto glutarate complex, permitted the biochemical identification of the different degrees of cellular lesions, mainly in the liver, in our schistosomotic marmosets. These lesions varied from the simplest ones, caused by physical-chemical modifications of the membrane systems, to the most serious ones, such as necrosis.