RT Journal
A1 BOYD RI
T1 HEpatic function during the hypoproteinemia of renal disease
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 1949
FD March 1
VO 83
IS 3
SP 298
OP 304
DO 10.1001/archinte.1949.00220320052004
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinte.1949.00220320052004
AB THERE is general agreement that the liver is involved in the formation of plasma proteins. The evidence is well defined in the case of fibrinogen1 and of prothrombin,2 but in the case of other globulin fractions serious question remains. The work of Whipple and his collaborators3 relates the liver to hypoalbuminemia under the conditions of their experiments. Furthermore, in the later stages of cirrhosis of the liver it has long been known that the serum albumin concentration is less than normal.4 A similar and often even more pronounced decrease in serum albumin concentration is seen in patients in the degenerative stage of glomerular nephritis with edema. It is not immediately apparent why this plasma anomaly should occur as a direct consequence of the renal lesion. There is agreement that mere loss of protein in the urine cannot be regarded as an adequate explanation for the