CHANGES IN IRON AND FERRITIN IN ANEMIC CALVES INFECTED WITH THEILERIA-SERGENTI

Changes in iron and ferritin in calves infected with Theileria sergent i were investigated to elucidate iron metabolism in animals with extra vascular hemolytic anemia. During severe anemia, serum iron was remark ably elevated while the total iron-binding capacity remained relativel y unchanged or decreased slightly in the infected calves, resulting in elevated transferrin saturation. The serum ferritin concentration gra dually increased with the progress of anemia. The erythrocyte ferritin content drastically increased when mean corpuscular volume was elevat ed. The concentration of non-heme iron and ferritin in the liver, sple en, and bone marrow of the infected carves was markedly higher than th at in the respective tissues of the control animals. In particular, th e liver of the anemic calves was found to contain 23 and 35 times as m uch non-heme iron and ferritin, respectively, as that of the non-anemi c healthy cattle. The liver type (L) to heart type (H) subunit ratio o f liver ferritin was significantly higher in the protozoa-infected tha n in the non-infected cattle. On the other hand, the LIH ratio of marr ow ferritin was significantly reduced by the anemia. These results ind icate that the anemic calves infected with T. sergenti apparently pres ent symptoms of iron overload.