Abstract

This study was performed in order to investigate the changes of β-glucuronidase activity in rats with clonorchiansis. The rats were experimentally infested with 200 metacercariae of Clonorchis sinesis. The metacercariae were isolated from the Pseudorasbora parva by digestion technique. The animals were killed by a depletion of blood at 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th week after infestation; the livers and blood in the heart were obtained and examined immediately for the enzyme activity. The livers were also examined morphologically. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1) Marked papillary and adenomatous hyperplasia of bile ducts and acute and chronic inflammatory reaction of the portal areas were observed in the liver of rats with clonorchiasis. The hyperplasia of bile ducts was somewhat more severe as the days go by. 2) β-glucuronidase activities in the liver and serum were significantly increased form first to fourth week after infestation compared to the findings of control animals. 3) There was a positive correlation between β-glucuronidase activities in the liver tissue and serum. On the basis of the above findings, it was suggested that Clonorchis sinensis is a continuously increasing factor of β-glucuronidase activity in the liver and serum, and that there is a correlation between increase of β-glucuronidase activity and hyperplasia of intrahepatic bile ducts.