Serum Protein-Bound Carbohydrates and Lipids in Experimental Tuberculosis

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Abstract
Serum protein levels and the serum protein bound carbohydrates and lipids in tuberculous guinea pigs were compared with those of healthy control guinea pigs as well as with those of animals in which treatment with isoniazid temporarily prevented the development of tuberculosis. In guinea pigs with active tuberculosis the serum albumin was moderately reduced and the gamma globulin and muco protein were markedly increased. The serum lipids and lipoprotein fractions were not influenced by tuberculosis, while hexose and hexosamine and all of the protein bound carbohydrates, expressed in absolute amounts, were elevated. However, the carbohydrate concentration of gamma globulin was distinctly depressed in tuberculosis, that in alpha and beta globulin was unaltered. As a result the ratio of alpha globulin/gamma globulin was increased and the ratio, carbohydrate percent in alpha globulin/carbohydrate percent in gamma globulin, was decreased in active tuberculosis. The marked rise in gamma globulin and only a very small increase in the gamma globulin associated carbohydrate suggests that the excess gamma globulin differs from the normal gamma globulin and may possibly be formed in other sites.