Rat liver alcohol dehydrogenase isozymes: influence of infection with Trypanosoma

A study has been made of changes in alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) isozymes in livers of rats infected with the following trypanosomes: Trypanosoma cruzi, T. rhodesiense, T. congolense, and six geographical isolates of T. lewisi. A control group of the same age was injected with saline, and another left uninjected. Liver homogenates were electrophoresed in noble agar gels followed by formazan staining according to the method of Ursprung and Leone (1965). Of a total of 25 replicates, 15 showed that the level of rat liver ADH isozymes was similar in the uninjected and saline injected animals; 6 replicates showed a slightly higher level of ADH isozymes in uninjected than saline injected control rat livers, and 4 replicates had a higher level in saline injected than in the uninjected. With either 1-octanol or ethanol as substrate, a marked elevation of ADH activity was observed beginning with day 7 post inoculation in rat livers infected with T. cruzi, T. lewisi, and T. congolense, or as early as day 4 post inoculation with T. rhodesiense. The elevation persisted 59 days or more in rat livers infected with T. lewisi, but rats infected with the pathogenic species usually died 5 to 14 days after infection. The elevation of ADH isozymes has also been demonstrated spectrophotometrically for the first 5 minutes of reaction time, using acetaldehyde as substrate. Also observed in livers infected with pathogenic species and certain strains of T. lewisi were: (1) ADH isozyme pattern changes involving an elevated level of certain isozymes only, and (2) abnormal isozyme mobilities.