Ferrokinetics in patients with malaria: normoblasts and iron incorporation in vitro

Abstract

Morphologic examinations and measurements of radioactive iron in normoblasts found in cultures of bone marrow were carried out in the cases of 17 patients with malaria. Fifteen studies were performed during parasitemia and eight after parasitemia. In cultures from malarial patients depression of erythropoiesis was demonstrated in vitro by decreases in both number of normoblasts and amount of radioactive iron incorporated into these cells following 21 and 45 hr of incubation. These abnormalities were present in patients studied during parasitemia only. The finding indicates that erythropoietic depression is a direct result of malarial infection. A depressive factor in malarial serum could not be demonstrated. It is suggested that the mechanism of erythropoietic depression in malaria is due to a complex mechanism involving both an increased rate of normoblastic destruction and a decreased rate of proliferation of these cells in the bone marrow.