Micro-electrophoretic studies of plasma proteins in post-operative patients

Abstract

IT has long been known that protein metabolism is markedly affected by trauma and by operations. The role which proteins play in the metabolic response to injury has been assessed in the past chiefly by studying nitrogen intake and loss and serum-protein levels. Many writers have emphasized the extent and duration of the negative nitrogen balance which occurs in post-operative patients

Serum globulin fractions in children with acute appendicitis and peritonitis

“…Similar results were obtained by Birch and Jepson (1956) in an investigation of plasma protein patterns by paper electrophoresis, and their evidence indicated that the response to surgery varied according to the site of the operation, in addition to the extent of the trauma. Hoch-Ligeti, Irvine, and Sprinkle (1953) studied serum samples from surgical patients, using the method of micro-electrophoresis on absorbent paper.…”

Fibrinogen Estimation by Paper Electrophoresis

“…With this tank a wide separation of the fibrinogen band from the starting-line can be obtained and for this reason it was preferred to the vertical type used by Birch and Jepson (3). Thus any tendency of the fibrinogen to become denatured and adhere to the paper could be easily recognized.…”

“…In a recent study of the plasma protein changes following surgery, however, Birch and Jepson (3) noted an increased fibrinogen &dquo;peak&dquo; on the electrophoretogram. This observation, and in particular the occurrence of an increasingly high peak in a patient who developed a coronary thrombosis on the ninth postoperative day, led them to suggest, as did Margulis and his associates (4), that this fibrinogen response merited further study as a factor in the pathogenesis of thromboembolism, and as the possible basis of a routine prognostic test.…”