STUDIES ON THE CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SERUM PROTEINS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Denis1 in 1856 was probably the first to report an investigation of the action of various salts on the separation of serum albumin from serum globulin. Hammerstein2 in 1878 reported the utilization of the precipitating effect of salt for the quantitative estimation of the albumin and the globulin in horse and human serum. In 1882 Burckhardt3 found that in starving dogs the albumin concentration of the serum fell while the globulin concentration remained stationary. In 1912 Epstein4 reported that in 12 patients with "nephrosis" the only constant deviation from normal in the serum protein was the lowering of albumin. The absolute globulin level remained essentially constant. He expressed his findings as an albumin-globulin ratio ("A/G ratio"), and since his report this relative method of expression has become deeply rooted in medical literature. It should be noted, however, that when the albuminglobulin ratio is thus reversed, reporting