Plasma Proteins and their Role in Diagnosis of Disease

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Role of Blood Plasma in Disease Diagnosis
Introduction
Blood plasma proteins also known as the serum proteins are the proteins found in the blood plasma. Blood plasma contains a concentration of 7 g/dl. The occurrence of disease causes alteration of concentrations of blood plasma and its variance in abundance can be used as diagnostic clues by medical professionals. For example, high levels of intracellular enzymes in blood plasma can suggest acute cell death caused by an acute disease such as viral hepatitis or myocardial infarction. There are different plasma proteins released by the death cells of different organs. Death liver cells release aminotransferases sGOT while cardiac and skeletal muscles release cytochrome. Heart, liver, kidney and skeletal muscles release lactate dehydrogenase proteins when the cells die. Detection of the presence of these proteins in blood is used by the medics to diagnose the disease. This paper seeks to investigate in detail the role of blood plasma in the diagnosis of different diseases by looking at each blood plasma protein.
Albumin
Albumin is the blood plasma protein that exists in high concentration than any other protein in the blood plasma. Its concentration ranges between 3.5-5.5 g/dL, which represents more than half of the blood plasma proteins (Kwok 201). Albumin is produced by the liver cells and is known to be a carrier of non-specific less soluble substances such as steroid hormones and bilirubin. Albumin dissolves in distilled water and certain physiological saline solutions. Another important property of albumin used in disease diagnosis is the high speed in migration in electrophoresis towards the positive electrode (Kwok 214).
In the case of a disease, albumin concentrations increase significantly leading to hemoconcentration that is manifested by diarrhea, vomiting, and severe burns. However, in the event of chronic liver diseases, albumin concentrations drop as a result of impaired biosynthesis (Kwok 232). Albumin also decreases in nephritic syndrome due to a loss of urine. Albumin is the main determinant of the colloid-osmotic pressure of the blood hypoalbuminemia. As a result, the occurrence of hypoalbuminemia will be associated with ascites and oedema if it is caused by a liver disease that causes hypertension such as cirrhosis (Kwok 233). Patient albumin is measured directly using electrophoretic protidogram making use of its property of fast migration and the relative abundance in the blood plasma.
Acute Phase Proteins
Acute phase proteins are produced in the blood serum when a range of pathological stimuli is present in the blood leading to necrosis of tissues. Often, this is caused by cancer, infection or inflammation (Chernecky and Berger 92). In acute phase reactions, certain plasma proteins decrease in concentrations, for instance, albumin. This scenario is occasioned by an increase in phase proteins. Acute phase proteins such as SAA and C-reactive proteins are good diagnostic indicators of tissue inflammation and damage to body tissues (Chernecky and Berger 95). They also provide for further diagnostic screenings although provide the low pathological determination (Chernecky and Berger 99). In young children, the presence of acute phase proteins prompts the doctors to consider diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, bacterial infections and autoimmune diseases among others.
C-reactive protein is manufactured and released by the liver. It has the ability to bind to C-polysaccharide of the Streptococci. Under health human body conditions, serum concentrations should be less than 1 mg/dL. However, in the case of an infection, the concentration will rise significantly to between 100 and 1000-fold (Chernecky and Berger 104).
Globulins
Globulins are blood plasma proteins produced by liver cells. Globulins ar...