BACKGROUND: This work evaluated the influence of the spleen and splenic remnants on lipid metabolism, by evaluating the impact of splenectomy on the lipidogram of mice and by studying the effect of autogenous spleen tissue implanted in different sites. METHODS: 70 BALB/c mice were divided into seven groups of 10 animals: normal control group, with no diet or surgery; fat control group, without surgery; surgical procedure sham group; total splenectomy group and three groups with implants in different sites: greater omentum, retroperitonium and abdominal subcutaneous tissue. The animals, except the normal control group, received food with 1.25% cholesterol. The surgical procedure was carried out 30 days after the beginning of the food administration. Two months after the operations, serum triglycerides, cholesterol and glycemia were studied. Histological assessments of the spleen or implants and the liver were carried out. RESULTS: The enriched food increased the plasmatic levels of total cholesterol, HDL, and mainly LDL of the mice (p<0.05). No significant difference was found in the lipidograms of the animals of the control groups when compared with the splenectomized ones, as well as in the animals submitted to the autogenous splenic tissue transplantation. The preservation of the splenic histological architecture was similar on the three implantation sites. All the animals receiving enriched food presented liver steatosis. CONCLUSION: The spleen, splenectomy and splenic implants do not influence lipidogram in BALB/c mice.
Spleen; Splenectomy; Transplant; Lipid metabolism; Cholesterol; Triglycerides
