Parallel Studies of Complement and Blood Coagulation

Abstract

Summary The repeated oral or parenteral administration of ethionine produced in female guinea pigs a fatty degeneration of the liver of varying extent and severity; some animals also showed pancreatic changes involving the acinar cells. Fatty infiltration was observed in the livers of some of the male guinea pigs injected with ethionine but it tended to be less extensive than in females similarly treated. Both male and female guinea pigs showed a pronounced drop in complement titer; of the four major components, C′1, C′2 and C′3 were most affected, although a decline in C′4 also occurred. A moderate to marked prolongation of the coagulation time of the plasma was recorded in guinea pigs that had received repeated doses of ethionine. Accelerator-globulin (labile factor) as well as prothrombin and fibrinogen appeared abnormally low in many of the specimens. The sera of many of the ethionine-treated guinea pigs, even though normal in total protein content, had abnormally high albumin-globulin ratios owing to a marked decrease in globulin. Although a general relationship has been demonstrated between the fall in complement titer, the degree of liver damage and the shift in serum protein pattern, changes in complement activity were often detected before these other effects of ethionine-treatment had become evident.