RADIOIMMUNOASSAY OF PLASMA LIGANDIN - SENSITIVE INDEX OF EXPERIMENTAL HEPATOCELLULAR NECROSIS

Abstract

The development of a sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay for ligandin, a protein present in abundance in the hepatic cytoplasm, permitted measurement of ligandin in rat plasma. Plasma ligandin levels were estimated in normal, CCl4-treated, and bile duct-ligated rats, with parallel estimation of serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT). Plasma ligandin levels rose at a greater rate and to higher levels than did SGOT in CCl4-treated rats and showed a more linear increment to increasing doses of CCl4. A marked depletion of hepatic but not renal ligandin was associated with CCl4 poisoning. Twelve h after acute bile duct ligation both plasma ligandin and SGOT were moderately elevated; plasma ligandin returned to normal by 24 h at which time SGOT was still raised. Plasma ligandin apparently is a sensitive index of experimental hepatocellular necrosis.