Serum antitrypsins in animals. Studies of species variations, components, and the influence of certain irritants.

Abstract

Total serum antitrypsins were studied in laboratory and domestic animals. The guinea pig was found to have the highest concentration (2.88 mg ± 0.52 mg trypsin inhibited per ml serum) and the hamster, the least (0.64 mg ± 0.13 mg per ml). All other animals, including humans, had an intermediate range of 1 mg to 2 mg per ml. Several methods of increasing the concentration of total antitrypsin were studied in the guinea pig; the most effective were administration of nitrogen dioxide and injection of turpentine. When the serum antitrypsins were separated and quantified in several species, rodents were found to have at least two major components with the electro­ phoretically slower-moving one accounting for more than one-half the activity, whereas primates had primarily one component moving like alpha1 antitrypsin; the goat was intermediate. Partially purified preparations of the two major components in guinea pig serum have been obtained by preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and have been used for chemical analyses and as antigens for antibody production in rabbits. An animal model in which antitrypsin concentrations can be manipulated might be useful for the study of emphysema.