In vitro and in vivo glucose consumption in swine eperythrozoonosis.

One complication of swine eperythrozoonosis is the hypoglycemia that occurs during parasitemia. To determine the cause of the hypoglycemia, we studied glucose consumption in splenectomized pigs infected with Eperythrozoon suis. With the rapid rise of erythroparasites, the in vitro glucose consumption of parasited whole blood increased dramatically, and hypoglycemia developed. Because mature porcine erythrocytes are impermeable to glucose, the increased glucose consumption is most logically the result of E. suis metabolism. Iodoacetamide and sodium fluoride (which inhibit glycolysis), but not sodium cyanide (which prevents cellular respiration), and tetracycline (which is used to treat eperythrozoonosis) inhibited glucose consumption. In vivo glucose turnover studies before infection and during peak parasitemia indicated an increased glucose production by infected pigs during parasitemia. The results suggest that hypoglycemia occurs during swine eperythrozoonosis because the parasite uses glucose faster than the gluconeogenic pathways can provide it.