Studies on methemoglobin and methemoglobin reductase in monkey erythrocytes during Plasmodium knowlesi infection

Plasmodium knowlesi infection in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) caused a decrease in the level of erythrocyte NAD-dependent met-hemoglobin reductase, the enzyme responsible for the conversion of met-hemoglobin to hemoglobin. The level of met-hemoglobin was thus increased whereas hemoglobin content was decreased as a result of malaria infection in the blood of monkeys. The activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, the enzyme mainly responsible for generation of NADPH, and the level of reduced glutathione were increased in P. knowlesi infected monkey erythrocytes.