[Albumin differentiation by isoelectric focusing in patients with liver cirrhosis]

In patients with cirrhosis of the liver, there is noted a striking imbalance in the distribution of isoelectric fractions of serum albumin in the isoelectric field. Disproportion in isoelectric fractions of serum albumin can, we believe, be referred to functional loads on albumin relative to fixation and transport of surplus of bilirubin and ammonia. In the ascitic fluid, there comes to be seen, in fact, a reversal of imbalance of pH-dependent fractions of albumin,--probably, due to "purification" in the lymphatic system and partly in the functioning hepatocytes. As to the isoelectric spectrum, the ascitic fluid albumin is qualitatively very similar to serum albumin of healthy people.