A study of cerebral protein and polysaccharide in the dog

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Abstract
Studies of cerebral edema have suffered from lack of methods for quantifying edema. Gross and microscopic estimates are unreliable. Several recent reports of the finding of a relative increase of "albumin" on paper electrophoresis of extracts of edematous brain tissue suggested a new approach to this problem. An increase in the relative concentration of "albumin" (band 2 protein) was confirmed in 32 specimens of edematous brain tissue from 7 animals with experimental cerebral edema produced by the implantation of psyllium seed. The increased concentration of "albumin" (band 2 protein) was limited to the edematous specimens in each of the 7 seeded dogs and was present in 8 of 11 grossly normal specimens of brain immediately surrounding the lesion in sham-operated dogs. The increase (greater than 5%) was significant, exceeding the normal mean value (2.7 [plus or minus] 1.1%) by 2 standard deviations in all regions of gross or equivocal edema in the seeded animals. The increase was greatest nearest the psyllium-seed mass, decreasing progressively with increasing distance from the lesion. The concentration of "albumin" (band 2 protein) establishes the presence or absence of edema, and also measures its extent and intensity. The total extractable protein was increased in edematous brain tissue. The major portion of this was accounted for by the increased "albumin" fraction (band 2 protein). In opposition to the gross appearance of cerebral edema and the studies with radio-iodinated serum albumin in cerebral edema, the increased concentration of band 2 protein ("albumin") in "gray" matter was greater than that in "white" matter. The significance of this paradoxical observation is discussed in relation to current concepts of cerebral edema.