The Anemia of Thermal Injury

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Abstract
Anemia is one of a large number of systemic changes occurring in severely burned patients and has a multifactorial etiology including hemorrhage, hemolysis, and depression of the rate of erythropoiesis. In previous studies, it was found that serum of burned humans and animals contained a substance(s) capable of interfering with red cell colony formation in vitro. Here are reported studies done in an attempt to characterize further the inhibitory activity. The molecular weight was more than 50,000 daltons by ultrafiltration. By gel filtration an inhibitory region was identified with an approximate molecular weight range of 140–290,000. Treatment of sera with proteolytic enzymes resulted in loss of activity suggesting that the inhibitory substance(s) was a protein. Ion exchange chromatography indicated that the inhibitor was an acidic protein. It is suggested that this material participates in the pathophysiology of the anemia of thermal injury by depressing red cell production.