Albumin extravasation rates in tissues of anesthetized and unanesthetized rats.

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) labeled with 131I was injected intravenously in chronically prepared, unanesthetized rats and into pentobarbital-anesthetized rats that had received 2 ml 5% BSA to help sustain plasma volume. Initial uptake rates (clearances) in skin, skeletal muscles, diaphragm, and heart (left ventricle) were measured over 1 h. BSA labeled with 125I was injected terminally to correct for intravascular 131I-BSA. Observed clearances were in the following order in both groups of animals: heart much greater than diaphragm approximately equal to skin greater than resting skeletal muscles. Differences between unanesthetized and anesthetized animals were small and inconsistently directed. Our results suggest that the lower albumin clearances reported in the literature for anesthetized rats are not the result of their immobility or any direct effect of anesthesia on albumin transport in these tissues. The lower transport rates appear to result indirectly from changes produced by anesthesia and/or surgery in controllable parameters such as plasma volume and intravascular protein mass.