Extravascular albumin mass and exchange in rat tissues.

1. Extravascular albumin in carcass, skin and gut of rats was extracted and the albumin content estimated by several methods. Assay by electrophoresis on acrylamide gel, by immunodiffusion and by radioimmunoassay were in essential agreement. The method used previously, precipitation with antibody followed by alcoholTeA extraction, underestimates the amount of albumin in tissue extracts, because extraction from the antibody precipitate is not complete. This method is valid, however, for specific activity determination. 2. Normal rats contain from 500 to 650 mg of albumin per 100 g body weight. Of this, 20-25% is in the circulation, 3~0% in the carcass (mainly but not exclusively muscle), 20-25% in skin and 10% in gut. 3. The extracellular water of muscle, carcass, skin and gut was estimated from the distribution of mannitol and sulphate. With the exception of gut, both methods agreed closely. Extracellular, extravascular water constitutes about 23% of the body weight of 150-200 g rats. The extracellular water in muscle is about 20% and in skin, 40%. In gut the extracellular water cannot be estimated reliably by these compounds. 4. Muscle contains about 3·5 mg/g of extravascular albumin; skin and gut, 7-8 mg/g. The concentration ofextravascular albumin in extracellular water ofmuscle and skin is 16-20 mg/ml, or 50-60% of the concentration in plasma. In the small intestine the concentration of albumin is higher, possibly similar to that in plasma. 5. In rats with severe aminonucleoside nephrosis, body albumin was depleted to 100-200 mg/IOOg. Of this, 15-25% was in plasma, 50% in carcass, and about 15% in skin. Ascitic fluid contained only a few mg of albumin. 6. The specific activity of extravascular albumin of tissues was followed after intravascular injection of 1251_ or 1311-labelled albumin. The specific activity of carcass albumin increases rapidly, becoming equal to that in plasma after less than