1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, USA.
2Department of Microbiology, CSMMU, LKO.
3Department of Biochemistry, CSMMU, LKO.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the XVIII National Conference of Indian Virological Society at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, December 11–13, 2008.
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a mosquito borne disease; flavivirus is responsible for epidemic encephalitis in South East Asia. After haematogenous spread, it replicates in various organs causing short viremia and it generates an inflammatory response with brain congestion, haemorrhage and neuronal degeneration. Marked hypoglycemia is notice during JEV infection. Hypoglycemia may be considered to be a consequence of the catabolic phase of carbohydrate metabolism coupled with secretion of counter regulatory hormones such as insulin, glucagons, epinephrine, cortisol and growth hormone.
Mice infected with JEV, hypoglycemia in the convalescent phase was due to the induction of antigen-specific Ly1------------------------------- 2+ T cells in the spleen which mediate hypoglycemia through the generation of soluble T cell hypoglycemic factor (TCHF). The mechanism by which hypoglycemia is produced in the JEV infection in still not known. It was therefore considered necessary to study the various enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism, in order to elucidate their possible role in JEV-induced hypoglycemia. The study was performed on male inbred Swiss albino mice age 5–6 weeks. The effect of JEV and TCHF on the carbohydrate metabolism regulatory enzymes and metabolism, viz., glycogen, glycogen phosphorylase, glucose-6-phosphatase, phosphoenolpyruvate, carboxykinase, pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and lactic acid were studied in mice. Study concluded that hypoglycaemia in mice during convalescent phase of JEV infection may be due to the depletion of glycogen levels as well as significant elevation of lactic acid levels in serum of mice.
