Peroxisome depletion in rat liver during pneumococcal sepsis.

Biochemical and morphometric analysis reveal that the peroxisomal content of rat liver cells is markedly reduced during pneumococcal sepsis. It is suggested that during some bacterial infections, hepatic synthesis of acute-phase serum proteins occurs at the expense of peroxisomal protein synthesis and results in reduction of the peroxisomal protein pool and number of peroxisomes.