Comparison of albumin and fibrinogen biosynthesis in stimulated rats and cultured fetal rat hepatocytes.

Evidence is presented that cultured fetal rat hepatocytes, when incubated with a crude leucocytic extract derived from rabbits undergoing an inflammatory response, show a marked increase in fibrinogen production and a concomitant decrease in albumin production. Antibody binding to polyribosomes synthesizing fibrinogen and albumin shows the same inverse relationship in rats undergoing an artificially induced inflammatory response. These data demonstrate directly and unequivocally that during the acute phase (inflammatory) response, the biosynthesis of these two plasma proteins is inversely affected by a factor or factors acting directly on the liver.