Using I131-albumin tracer methods, albumin breakdown rates were estimated in 7 rabbits following extensive gastrointestinal resection, including 5 with nearly complete enterectomy, 1 with total gastroenterectomy, and 1 with gastrectomy only, and in 4 sham operated rabbits. Breakdown rates in the reseeted animals varied from 48 to 187 per cent of the corresponding controls, with an average of 96 per cent. It is concluded that no more than one-half, and probably much less, of albumin breakdown occurs in the gastrointestinal tract.
I N T R O D U C T I O NIn experiments described in the previous p a p e r (1), we found that removal of 75 to 90 per cent of the j e j u n u m and ileum of rabbits caused no reduction in the plasma a l b u m i n catabolic rate as d e t e r m i n e d b y analysis of I181-albumin tracer data. In this p a p e r we r e p o r t experiments in rabbits with m o r e extensive bowel resections. M e a s u r e m e n t of a l b u m i n b r e a k d o w n is difficult in such animals because they survive surgery only a few hours. Relatively crude estimates can be m a d e by relating the release of I181-albumin b r e a k d o w n products into the blood to changes in the plasma specific activity. W h e n these estimates are c o m p a r e d with similar estimates in sham o p e r a t e d animals, some assessm e n t of the residual capacity of resected animals to break d o w n albumin can be made.
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