Pantothenic acid erythrocytes

Red blood cells contain pantothenic acid, 4 -phosphopantothenic acid, and pantetheine. These seem to enter by diffusion, and their function is not known unsurprisingly, because they contain no mitochondria, erythrocytes do not contain CoA (Annous and Song, 1995). The permeability of erythrocytes to pantothenate is normally relatively low, but in red cells infected with malaria parasites, the permeability is increased considerably the vitamin is taken up and utilized by the parasites, which require CoA (Saliba et al., 1998). 

Saliha Ki, Horner HA, and Kirk K (1998) Transport and metaholism of the essential vitamin pantothenic acid in human erythrocytes infected with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Journal of Biological Chemistry 273,10190-5. 

Bennett, T. P., and Trager, W. (1967). Pantothenic acid metabolism during avian malaria infection Pantothenate kinase activity in duck erythrocytes and in Plasmodium lophurae. ]. Protozool. 14, 214-216. 

The possible functions of pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, or folic acid in the mechanisms involved in the release of antibody from their sites of formation were further investigated as follows (Ludovici et al., 1951b). Rats were immunized with human erythrocytes while on the deficient diets and their initial titers determined. Four days later the animals were injected intraperitoneally with the respective vitamin and maintained on an adequate control diet for the remainder of the experiment. Antibody titers were determined periodically thereafter. The effect of the... 

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