BACKGROUND: Although the occurrence of spleen alterations in the various forms of dyslipidemia, such as Gaucher's disease, has been well established, the relation between the spleen and lipid metabolism has not been properly studied. In order to contribute to the filling of this gap, in the present investigation we assessed experimentally the lipidogram of rats in the presence of the spleen, in asplenia, and after conservative spleen surgeries. METHODS: Forty female Wistar rats of similar weight and age were divided into 4 groups submitted to the following procedures: Group 1- control, with an intact spleen; Group 2 - total splenectomy; Group 3 - subtotal splenectomy, and Group 4 - total splenectomy complemented with autogenous spleen tissue implants. Four months after the interventions, serum triglycerides, total cholesterol and fractions (VLDL, LDL, HDL) were determined. The results for the four groups were compared by analysis of variance followed by the Tukey-Kramer test, with the level of significance set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: There were no differences between groups 1, 3 and 4. In the animals submitted to total splenectomy, total cholesterol (p = 0.0093) and LDL fraction concentrations (p < 0.0001) were higher, whereas HDL fraction concentrations were lower (p = 0.05) than those detected in the other groups. There was no difference in triglycerides (p = 0.1882) or VLDL (p = 0.2030) between groups. CONCLUSIONS: The spleen probably plays an important role in the lipid metabolism of female rats and total splenectomy may be related to changes in cholesterol control. It is possible that preservation of spleen tissue prevents such metabolic disorders.
Spleen; Splenectomy; Partial splenectomy; Splenic autoimplants; Cholesterol; Triglycerides
