Influence of hepatectomy and hepatic necrosis on electrophoresis of plasma proteins.

Abstract

With the advent of physicochemical methods of preparative chromatography and electrophoresis, considerable information relating to plasma protein patterns in normal and disease states has evolved. 12 Although it appears that the liver is the source of all the plasma albumin, fibrinogen, and most of the globulin, 6 its role in the aberration of these protein patterns in disease as shown by electrophoresis has not been clearly defined. It remains unclear whether abnormal patterns are due to lack of formation of proteins by the liver, to the formation of abnormal proteins either by the liver or by the extrahepatic tissues, or to the conjugation of normal proteins with abnormal metabolites, thereby altering their physical properties. To aid in answering these questions, the changes in the electrophoretic patterns of the plasma proteins were studied for varying periods following surgical removal of all or part of the liver and after chemical hepatic necrosis