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Abstract
The metabolism of transferrin was studied by means of radioiodinated transferrin in nine normal subjects, fifteen patients with protein-losing gastroenteropathy, and in eight with the nephrotic syndrome. In normal subjects the mean fractional catabolic rate was 17 per cent of intravascular mass per day and the synthetic rate 16 mg per kg per day. On an average 49 per cent of total transferrin was located intravascularly. Seven of eight patients with the nephrotic syndrome had an increased ‘endogenous’ fractional catabolic rate. The synthetic rate was above normal in seven nephrotic patients. No evidence was found that the glomerular permeability of transferrin and albumin was unequal. In patients with protein-losing gastroenteropathy the synthetic rate was increased in nine out of fifteen. In twenty-one patients, thirteen with protein-losing gastroenteropathy and eight with the nephrotic syndrome, who were studied simultaneously with transferrin and albumin, the serum concentration of albumin was decreased in all patients, whereas the serum concentration of transferrin was normal in several cases. The finding is ascribed to a more rapid synthetic rate of transferrin than of albumin.