The Plasma Proteins in Relation to Blood Hydration

That extreme restriction of dietary protein results in reduction of serum proteins in rats has been demonstrated by Frisch, Mendel and Peters (1). In the preceding article of this series (2) it has been shown that a serum protein deficiency, in which the albumin fraction alone suffers, is regularly found in patients who have, as the result of disease, become seriously malnourished. Presumably, wastage of tissue proteins is the most important feature of such malnutrition. The appearance of edema in protein-starved rats was first observed by Kohman (3) and Maver (4), whose observations were confirmed by Frisch, Mendel and Peters (1). Furthermore, the occurrence of edema in famine areas has been noted repeatedly, especially during the world war, and has been ascribed by some to the effects of protein starvation (5, 6). It is also frequently observed in patients with wasting diseases. The discovery that malnutrition is regularly at- tended by serum albumin deficiency seems to afford a rational ex- planation of the development of edema.