THE EFFECT OF SERUM TRANSFUSION ON THE PLASMA PROTEIN DEPLETION ASSOCIATED WITH NUTRITIONAL EDEMA IN DOGS

Abstract

Exps. on dogs, exhibiting serum albumin deficits produced by protein starvation, indicated that transfusion with normal dog serum is followed by an immediate rise in the concentration of serum albumin and usually by a fall in the concentration of globulin. When the results were expressed as total circulating protein, rather than in terms of concentration, both albumin and globulin were increased by the procedure. It was shown that the results were not to be explained entirely on the basis of a simple mixture of donor''s and recipient''s sera in vivo and that 2 possible participating factors might be (a) a loss from the circulation of a small amt. of the injected protein and (b) an additional increment of water drawn into the circulation from the tissues. In the days following transfusion the albumin concentrations, after first rising, slowly declined although they did not, within the periods of observation, return to the levels present before transfusion. Globulin concentrations, after an immediate fall, rose rapidly for several days and then either maintained or slowly receded from the levels reached. When the results were expressed as total circulating proteins, it appeared that the quantities of albumin and globulin in the circulation, as well as the blood volume, declined gradually during the subsequent days in the direction of the values present before transfusion. Significant alterations in the edematous state did not occur as a result of the transfusions.