Vitamin C deficiency fails to protect mice from malaria.
Nutritional deficiencies are frequent in malaria-endemic areas. It seems that micronutrient antioxidants play an important role in malaria parasite's proliferation. Thus, the effect of vitamin C deficiency on malaria infection was examined in mice. When vitamin C deficient mice, L-gulono-gamma-lactone oxidase gene knockout mice which are unable to synthesize ascorbic acid, were infected with a lethal dose of Plasmodium berghei NK65-infected red blood cells, the knockout mice showed similar parasitemia kinetics and survival rates as wild-type mice. The results indicate that deficiency of vitamin C might not affect the development of the malaria parasite in mice.
Herbas
Maria Shirley
MS
Research Unit for Functional Genomics, National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada, Obihiro, Japan.
Suzuki
Hiroshi
H
D000818:Animals; D001206:Ascorbic Acid Deficiency / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D050544:L-Gulonolactone Oxidase / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D008288:Malaria / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D018512:Parasitemia; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000502:physiology; D015996:Survival Rate
D050544:L-Gulonolactone Oxidase