TISSUE METABOLISM IN INFECTION - DPNASE ACTIVITY, DPN LEVELS, AND DPN-LINKED DEHYDROGENASES IN TISSUES FROM NORMAL AND TUBERCULOUS MICE

Abstract

The lungs, livers, and spleens from tuberculous mice exhibited about two- to three-fold higher diphosphopyridine nucleotidase (DPNase) activity as compared with that of the corresponding organs from normal animals. The DPN content of livers from infected mice was about one half that of livers from normal animals. In liver homogenates and mitochondria from tuberculous mice, the oxidation of substrates whose dehydrogenases are linked to diphosphopyridine nucleotide was one half to one tenth that of homogenates and mitochondria from normal animals. The succinic oxidase of tuberculous mice was unimpaired. The significance of these findings and the relation of the increase in DPNase activity to the decrease in DPN levels are discussed.