Book Description

Plasma Protein Metabolism: Regulation of Synthesis, Distribution, and Degradation covers the concepts concerning the physiological and pathophysiological factors regulating the distribution, degradation, and synthesis of plasma proteins. This book is organized into nine parts encompassing 32 chapters. The first parts present the assumptions and methodology involved in the various in vivo and in vitro techniques that provide insights to protein metabolism. The next parts describe the techniques of protein isolation, characterization, labeling, and mathematical analysis of the data, as well as the methods for directly quantitating protein synthetic rates in nonsteady state conditions. Other parts are devoted to the factors involved in regulating the serum levels of albumin, acute phase reactants, immunoglobulins, clotting factors, complement and hormone-binding proteins. The controlling factors include such general and specific physiological regulators of protein synthesis and catabolism as levels of specific serum proteins, hormonal regulators, variations of temperature and oncotic pressure, antigenic stimulation, and nutritional factors. The remaining parts analyze the pathophysiological factors including disorders of protein synthesis, distribution, exogenous catabolism, and external loss and stress that produce abnormal levels of serum proteins. This book is intended primarily intended to protein chemists and researchers.