Plasma Proteins-An Introduction

Out Of Print... This introduction to the biochemical and medical aspects of plasma proteins is presented here in a form suitable for medical students and undergraduates in the hiologial sciences. There are few comparable introductory texts. The book opens with a brief history of plasma proteins in which the close Inter-relation between advances in physico-chemical techniques and their application to the plasma proteins, is emphasised. The authors then consider elementary aspects of the nature of protein structure and give examples of rccent work on the electron microscopy of certain proteins. They describe techniques used for the characterization and measurement of plasma proteins together with several methods of isolation. Structural and physico-chemical data on twenty-two human plasma proteins complete the bio chemical review of the field. The remaining chapters treat the biological features (function, metabolism and clinical derangements) of the proteins. The section on clinical disturbances of plasma proteins is broadly divided into two parts. The first deals with diseases associated with increased plasma protein concentration and the second part considers those diseases characterized by a decreased plasma protein concentration. The authors are both invoked in teaching and research in the plasma protein field, having received much of their post graduate training in the Department of Experimental Pathology at Birmirigham. This department enjoys a high reputation for its investigations into many aspects of plasma proteins.