Effect of induced hypoxemia on serum protein fractions. A clinical pathophysiological study

Abstract

Concerning the metabolism of proteins in hypoxemia, in 1920, Graubitz, Tscherkes and Melnikova found increases in the total nitrogen and NH3 of the urine when carbonmonoxide hypoxemia was induced in animals, which indicated an increase in protein breakdown. However, no report has appeared in the literature on the changes in human serum proteins under acute induced hypoxemia. Therefore, the author subjected normal individuals and patients with various diseases to low oxygen respiration with the intention of studying its influence on the serum proteins. Methods and Subjects Human subjects in a resting and fasting state were made to inhale a 10% oxygen gas mixture for 15 minutes. Blood samples were obtained from. the femoral artery before and at the end of the inhalation. Also, in some cases, blood of the hepatic vein was obtained by the hepatic catheterization method. Serum protein fractionation of these samples was done by paper electrophoresis. The results obtained were analysed and their relations to the data of blood gas and carbohydrate metabolites obtained by coworkers, were studied. A total of 27 subjects were studied, which included healthy individuals (16 cases) and patients with mild or moderate pulmonary tuberculosis, hypertension and arteriosclerosis. Hepatic catheterization was per-formed on 14 cases which included healthy individuals (10 cases) and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, gastric ulcer or mild cholecystopathy. Low oxygen administration was done simultaneously on 6 of these cases. RESULTS I. SYSTEMIC ARTERIAL BLOOD 1) Changes in the serum protein fractions : The low oxygen inhalation caused a significant decrease of the albumin fraction and a significant increase of the aα1 globulin fraction. All globulin fractions showed negative correlations with the albumin fraction before the low oxygen inhalation and the correlations were also seen after the inhalation in all fractions except the α1 globulin fraction. In general, the albumin fraction was most easily affected by the hypoxemia and the major change of serum proteins caused by the low oxygen respiration was the decrease in the albumin.