Differentiation of various experimentally-induced pathological processes in Wistar rats by serum protein electrophoresis using cellulose-acetate membranes

Abstract

Plasma protein profiles were investigated electrophoretically in rats with aminonucleoside-induced glomerular damage, uranyl-nitrate-induced tubular damage, phalloidin-induced hepatocyte membrane damage, adjuvant arthritis as a model of chronic inflammation, and phenyl isothiocyanate pleurisy as a model of acute inflammation. Characteristic profiles were observed for each experimental disease, and their development and seriousness could be evaluated. Similar studies are already routinely used in clinical investigations of human plasma.

Oxidative changes in the blood and serum albumin differentiate rats with monoarthritis and polyarthritis

“…Concomitantly, a decrease in the levels of the negative acute-phase proteins occurs, especially albumin. Similar results regarding the serum protein pattern were already reported by previous work with both adjuvant-induced rats and exacerbated rheumatoid arthritis in humans (Rothkopf-Ischebeck 1980 ; Sharp et al 1982 ). Thus, the serum protein profile that was characterized here, strongly correlates with severe arthritis, but it was not sensible enough to differentiate mild arthritis from the healthy state.…”

“…The results of the present work are in part innovative since they show that the levels of serum ascorbic acid and albumin carbonyl groups are differently changed in mono- and poly-arthritic rats. Thus, these data may be added to others that were previously characterized for evaluating the activity of rheumatoid arthritis, such as the serum protein profile and the C-reactive protein (Rothkopf-Ischebeck 1980 ; Sharp et al 1982 ) and should also allow extrapolations for the serum of patients with greater or lesser severity of rheumatoid arthritis. However, it is important to highlight some limitations of this work, which used only male rats.…”