Appendix: Rates of plasma protein synthesis by deconvolution

Abstract

The plasma specific radioactivity of arginine guanidine ¹⁴C-labelled protein has been measured at various times after the injection of labelled protein precursor (Na₂¹⁴CO₃). The resulting ‘appearance‘ curve is a balance between the rate of synthesis and delivery of new protein and the rate of destruction and distribution of new plus existing protein. The measured appearance curve can be corrected to give a measure solely of the rate of synthesis of the plasma protein concerned, if the amplitude of the curve at every point is increased by an amount that compensates for the destruction and distribution processes. The decrease of plasma specific radioactivity of labelled plasma protein after an injection of exogenously labelled protein is termed the ‘disappearance’ curve, and the method of correcting the appearance curve by using the disappearance curve is shown to take the form of a deconvolution.