P827

PALECEK,  FRANK,  PALECEKOVA,  MILA, AND  AVIADO,  DOMINGO M. 1967.  Pathologic physiology and chemotherapy of Plasmodium berghei. II. Oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve in mice infected with chloroquine-sensitive and resistant strains. Experimental Parasitology 21, 16-30.

Mice inoculated with Plasmodium berghei die of progressive parasitemia and anemia in about 7 days postinoculation. The blood collected from mice sacrificed on days 4, 5, 6, and 7 after inoculation revealed the following features which contrast with blood from normal noninfected mice: ( 1 ) reduction in hemoglobin content; ( 2 ) reduction in oxygen content, when blood was equilibrated with gas mixtures of 5.25, 9.84, 19.9, and 93.85% oxygen and 5.12, 5.46, 4.95, and 6.15% carbon dioxide, respectively; ( 3 ) reduction in blood pH when blood was equilibrated with the above mentioned gas mixtures; and ( 4 ) the dissociation curve for oxyhemoglobin was shifted to the right. The blood collected from the mice infected with chloroquine-resistant strain of P. berghei showed essentially the same features as the blood from the mice inoculated with the sensitive strain with the following minor difference: the anemia was more severe but the parasitemia was less intense in the mice with chloroquine-resistant strain. The dissociation curve for the oxyhemoglobin obtained from mice infected with resistant strain was between the curve from noninfected mice and the curve from mice infected with sensitive strain.