Physiology, Albumin

Excerpt

Albumin is the most abundant circulating protein found in plasma. It represents half of the plasma's total protein content (3.5 g/dL to 5 g/dL) in healthy human patients. Liver hepatocytes synthesize albumin and rapidly excrete it into the bloodstream at about 10g to 15g per day. Very little albumin is stored in the liver, and most of it gets rapidly excreted into the bloodstream. In humans, serum albumin is a significant modulator of plasma oncotic pressure and transporter of endogenous and exogenous (ie, drugs) ligands. In clinical medicine, serum albumin can be measured via standard serum laboratory testing, and this measure has been advocated as a marker for an individual patient's nutritional status.

Albumin is also a colloid fluid administered to patients in need of fluid resuscitation, especially in the setting of trauma (ie, hypovolemic shock) or in the setting of large-volume paracentesis. As a laboratory value, serum albumin can also aid clinicians in providing insight into patients' liver function or the ability to biosynthesize proteins and factors vital to total body homeostasis.