Albumin shifts across the extracellular space secondary to experimental infections.

The pathway across tissue spaces of intravenously injected 125I albumin was studied in five dogs before and after the injection of Escherichia coli endotoxin by the use of perforated plastic capsules placed in the subcutaneous tissue. The already negative extracellular space pressure became less so after the endotoxin injection, when albumin was detected shifting from the intravascular space into the extracellular space compartment and then into the intralymphatic space. The injection of endotoxin produced a marked increase in the thoracic duct lymph flow, while, at the same time, erythrocytes entered the lymphatic stream. Results of this study suggest that experimental canine endotoxemia is associated with an increased passage of albumin into the extravascular compartment and explains, in part, the fall in serum levels of this protein during clinical and experimental sepsis.