Ferritin

It has been shown that sideroleukocyte formation in
equine infectious anemia is related to the presence of
detectable amounts of ferritin in the serum of the infected
animal. The presence of ferritin has been associated with
tissue breakdown as a result of the infectious process.
A relatively simple agar diffusion technique has been reported
which is of value in the screening of horses for the
acute phase of equine infectious anemia.
It has further been shown that infected leukocytes can
be induced to form sideroleukocytes earlier and in greater
number by the addition of ferritin or calcium. Non-infected
horses can not be induced to form sideroleukocytes by the
addition of only ferritin or calcium or infected sera.
However, addition of both ferritin and calcium does cause
induction of sideroleukocytes in normal leukocytes.
Levels of serum calcium in infected horses were shown
to be inversely proportional to both temperature of the
animal and the formation of sideroleukocytes.
The data indicated the important role of serum levels
of ferritin and calcium to the mechanism of sideroleukocyte
formation both in vivo and in vitro.