Experimental Hypoalbuminemia

Abstract

1. Adult dogs maintained for 6 weeks upon a carrot-protein-deficient diet exhibited a progressive fall in the serum protein confined entirely to the albumin fraction. The degree of hypoalbuminemia was pronounced, i.e. a fall from 3.75 to 2.00 gm. per cent. 2. Parallel microscopic changes in the liver were observed which consisted of a gradual loss in the stainable cytoplasm producing extensive vacuolization. This vacuolization was not due to the accumulation of fat or of glycogen as shown by chemical analyses as well as by stained sections of the livers. 3. The histological changes in the livers were assumed to be due to a loss of protein inasmuch as there was a parallel fall in the protein content of the liver pari passu with the fall in the serum albumin of the blood. This assumption is made more probable by the fact that the water content of the liver increased as the protein content decreased. 4. Liver function, as measured by the excretion of iso-iodeikon, fell with the fall of the serum albumin thus indicating the production of hepatic insufficiency by the protein deficient diet. 5. These observations are discussed in relation to the question whether the liver is the site of formation or of storage of serum albumin. Certain other, particularly therapeutic, implications are also discussed, i.e. the importance of a high protein intake in patients with liver disease.

Further studies on lysine deficiency in rats

“…The reduction of the protein content of the liver and the associated hypoproteinaemia contrast strongly with the apparently normal nitrogen content of the carcass. A progressive fall in serum proteins and a decrease in the protein content and a slight increase in the water content of the liver were also found in dogs fed a diet low in proteins (Elman & Heifetz, 1941). It appears that the liver is particularly sensitive to changes in the aminoacid composition of the diet.…”

The effects of changes in dietary protein on the composition and structure of the liver cell

“…whether it is deposited as inert storage material or integrated into the cytoplasm of the cell, thus becoming part of lving matter. It was intended to examine also if there is a correlation between these chemical changes and the cytological changes which have repeatedly been observed in the liver cell after alterations in the dietary protein intake (Berg, 1914(Berg, , 1922Noel, 1923;Elman & Heifetz, 1941;Elman, Smith & Sachar, 1943).…”

“…Since analyses of the amino-acid patterns of the proteins or of the composition of the phospholipins of the 'labile' and 'nonlabile' cytoplasms are not yet available, it cannot be stated whether or not they are identical in their chemical composition. Heifetz (1941) andElman et al (1943) were probably the first authors to correlate cytological with chemical changes in livers of dogs and rats fasted or fed on normal or protein-free diets. They studied the effects of dietary changes lasting for 2-3 weeks.…”

Amino Acid Studies. Ii. Plasma Amino Acid Retention, as Evidence of Impaired Liver Function. Investigations in Children With Nephrosis and Liver Disease 1

“…Weech (5) found a progressive fall in the ability of the liver to excrete bilirubin, early in the course of a dog fed a protein deficient diet, and, at autopsy, in some dogs similarly fed, histological evidence of liver damage. Elman (6) confirmed and elaborated on these findings, presenting evidence that morphological damage paralleled liver -dysfunction as determined by the excretion of iso-iodeikon. Since liver damage occurs in the hypoproteinemic dog, this experimental animal provided the basis for study in this laboratory (7) of the relation between liver impairment and the clearance of amino acids from the plasma.…”