Any experimental technique which involves disturbance of liver function is of particular interest in regard to plasma protein studies, for there is evidence that the liver is associated in the production of plasma protein. When a solution of gum acacia is injected intravenously in the dog, there is a marked decrease in the blood plasma protein concentration (5). That the liver is concerned with this process is suggested by the observation that injected gum acacia is rapidly removed from the blood and deposited to a large extent in the liver, whence it is slowly eliminated in the bile (4).In any attempt to evaluate this phenomenon following gum injection, it is important to ascertain, first, whether decrease in plasma protein amcentratio~ is associated with a decrease in total circulating protein, and second, the degree of impairment of liver function under these conditions. The data given here represent such an attempt: By means of plasma volume determinations it was possible to show a decrease in the total circulating protein. Determinations of plasma fibrinogen were made as a means of estimating the relative degree of hepatic function. Marked disturbance in fibrinogen concentration was demonstrated both in dogs receiving single injections of the gum, and in those in which repeated doses were given. It was possible by means of repeated weekly injections of acacia to maintain dogs at low plasma protein and fibrinogen levels for several weeks. Following 1 We are grateful to Eli Lilly and Company for furnishing valuable material used in these experiments.

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