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The Site of Abnormal Erythrocyte Destruction during Experimental Fever
Author(s) -
Karle Hans
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1968.tb01568.x
Subject(s) - spleen , haemolysis , bone marrow , hemolysis , medicine , pathogenesis , pathology , urine , immunology , endocrinology , biology
Measurement of the 51 Cr activity in the whole body, blood, and reticulo‐endothelium system organs in rabbits, exposed to a period of fever by injection of bacterial pyrogen after labelling of the erythrocytes, showed: (1) 51 Cr, liberated by normal or abnormal erythroclasis, is temporarily deposited in an extravascular site. Under normal conditions the spleen and bone marrow are the main organs where the deposition occurs. (2) The abnormal erythrocyte breakdown during fever immediately gives rise to an increased excretion of 51 Cr in the urine. Simultaneously, there is a significant increase in the activity in the spleen. Five days after a 5‐day period of fever, about 40 per cent of the abnormal 51 Cr loss from the blood was recovered in the spleen. There were no signs of intravascular haemolysis. (3) The presence of increased haemoglobin in the splenic tissue of the fever‐exposed rabbits and the absence of abnormal erythrocyte loss during pyrexia in splen‐ectomized rabbits indicate that the spleen plays a direct role in the abnormal loss. The pathogenesis of the cell loss is discussed.