STUDIES ON THE BLOOD PROTEINS : II. THE ALBUMIN-GLOBULIN RATIO IN EXPERIMENTAL INTOXICATIONS AND INFECTIONS.

The intoxication which develops as the result of a simple obstruction or a closed intestinal loop is accompanied by definite changes in the coagulable proteins of the blood serum. These changes consist essentially in an alteration in the normal albumin-globulin ratio; the globulin fraction is greatly increased and at times the normal relation of the two fractions may show a complete inversion. The increase in the globulin content of the blood serum is most marked in the animals which show some of the complications met with in loop animals,—rupture of the loop and peritonitis. In the latter conditions especially, the globulin increase is rapid and large. We believe this reaction to be of diagnostic value in acute infections attended by the sudden liberation and absorption of a toxic exudate. Infections and intoxications produced by inflammatory irritants are also accompanied by a rise in the blood globulins. This observation suggests that tissue disintegration with absorption of toxic products is responsible for the changes noted, and that bacterial invasion is important only in as far as it gives rise to toxic substances. Animals which have developed a tolerance to proteose intoxication following the periodic injection of small doses of proteose do not show a globulin increase. These experiments do not support the view that the rise in globulins observed in these experimental conditions is an expression of a resistance or tolerance developed by the animal. From the experimental evidence it seems more probable that the alteration in the partition of the blood protein fractions is one of the results of the metabolic disturbance which has been shown to occur in these conditions.