Feline infectious peritonitis. Proteins of plasma and ascitic fluid.

Electrophoreses of sera, plasma and ascitic fluids of cats with natural or experimental infectious peritonitis show important modifications. Special stainings of electrophoreses and chromatographic and immunoelectrophoretic technics characterized some of the modified proteins. In the experimental disease, fibrinogen, haptoglobin, transferrin, and probably orosomucoid are increased; in the natural disease, in addition to these modifications, the gamma-globulins are strongly increased; the immunoglobulins found in the often abundant ascitic fluid belong to the IgG class. Increased proteins such as fibrinogen, haptoglobin and orosomucoid and decreased albumin are aspecific aspects of inflammatory processes, whereas hypergammaglobulinemia appears in the course of immunological response. The rapid evolution of the experimental disease explains the fact that immunoglobulins do not increase.