FASCIOLA-HEPATICA INFECTION IN SHEEP - CHANGES IN LIVER-METABOLISM

Several aspects of liver function during infection with Fasciola hepat ica were examined in sheep four weeks after infection and compared wit h the:changes observed in infected rats. Previously reported respirato ry abnormalities in mitochondria isolated from the left lobe of the li ver of infected sheep were characterised further. Evidence is presente d that the respiratory lesion is located in the mitochondrial electron transport chain and that the aberrant respiratory behaviour is not as sociated with an increase in nonesterified fatty acids and the depleti on of mitochondrial phospholipids, as is the case in the rat. Microsom al membranes, which have also been shown to be depleted of phospholipi ds in the fluke-infected rat liver, showed no such changes in the shee p. However, in common with the rat, a substantial loss of cytochrome P -450 Was recorded in microsomes prepared from the left lobe, and the g lycogen content of the left lobe was found to be less than 50 per cent of control values. No change was observed in glucose g-phosphatase ac tivity. All these changes were localised effects, confined to areas of fluke infiltration.