Effect of serum albumin infusion on lipid mobilization in man

¹ Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham Veterans Administration Hospital, Durham, North Carolina

Serial plasma free fatty acid (FFA), cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were measured in 5 normal human subjects and in 11 hypoalbuminemic patients after infusion of norepinephrine with and without prior infusion of 50 g of serum albumin. In the hypoalbuminemic patients the peak response in FFA level to norepinephrine was diminished; after albumin infusion the peak rise of FFA level to norepinephrine was enhanced in both the normal and hypoalbuminemic individuals. Alterations in serum triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations that followed albumin infusion could be accounted for by the alteration in plasma volume that also occurred. The diminished FFA response in hypoalbuminemic patients was interpreted as indicating that norepinephrine-induced fat mobilization in man is dependent on the concentration of serum albumin, and that the defect in fat mobilization in hypoalbuminemia may be, in part, related to the alterations in cholesterol and triglyceride metabolism that are characteristic of hypoalbuminemia.