NUTRITIONAL STRESS AND THE ACUTE-PHASE REACTANTS OF RAT SERUM IN EXPERIMENTAL INFLAMMATION

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Abstract
The effects of acute starvation, food restriction, and protein depletion on the response of serum proteins to turpentine-induced inflammation were investigated in adult, male, Sprague–Dawley rats. The animals were fed nutritionally inadequate diets until a 20% weight loss was attained, then they were challenged. Significant increases occurred in the concentrations of protein-bound hexose, protein-bound hexosamine, and protein-bound sialic acid, and in the fibrinogen, seromucoid, α2- and β-globulin fractions; a new protein, α2-AP (acute-phase) globulin, appeared in the serum concomitant with decreased levels of total protein, albumin, and γ-globulin after the injection of the phlogogenic agent. The same pattern of response to inflammation occurred, irrespective of whether the rats were fed the stock or experimental diets.The conclusion was drawn that the response of the acute-phase reactants of rat serum to tissue injury is of such magnitude that it is not suppressed by several types of severe nutritional stress. Possible factors involved in the response are discussed.