Have you ever heard people talking about a plasma protein but wondered what it was do or which one did what? This blog post is all about the plasma proteins, their functions and how you can use this information in your everyday life. It’s a good idea to know what these important proteins do in the body because if there is an imbalance in any of these proteins.
Albumin
Albumin is the most abundant protein in human plasma. It is made by the liver and serves as a transport for steroid hormones, fatty acids, and thyroid hormones.
Serum albumin is the most abundant protein in human blood plasma. It plays a role in maintaining osmotic pressure and transporting small molecules such as hormones and fatty acids.
As collagen is the major structural protein of connective tissue, albumin is the major non-collagenous protein of the human body. The concentration of serum albumin varies according to sex, age and physiological status.
The serum albumin level is an important part of a person’s biochemistry profile. The level can be reduced by fluid loss from burns or other skin damage, excessive sweating, internal bleeding, malnutrition or kidney failure. The level can increase when fluid accumulates in body tissues causing swelling (edema) due to heart failure and liver cirrhosis.
Albumin is the most abundant plasma protein, with a concentration of about 35 g/L. Albumin functions to regulate the osmotic pressure of blood. Albumin also acts as a carrier molecule for many small molecules in blood, such as calcium, progesterone, and certain drugs.
Albumin is the most abundant plasma protein. Its function is to help maintain a constant concentration of solutes in blood plasma, and to keep solutes dissolved in the blood plasma from being filtered out of the kidney.
Ceruloplasmin
Ceruloplasmin is an acute phase protein that is not transported on the LDL particle. It is a copper-containing protein that oxidizes ferrous iron to ferric iron, which then inhibits its ability to accept or donate electrons. The reaction also leads to the formation of superoxide radicals, which can damage cells and tissues. Ceruloplasmin is thought to be important in limiting tissue damage due to the production of free radicals, especially during inflammation.
Fibrinogen
Plasma proteins are responsible for carrying out various functions in the blood. Fibrinogen is one of these proteins, and it plays a key role in the blood clotting process.
Fibrinogen is a soluble plasma protein that is converted into insoluble fibrin when blood coagulation occurs. The process of converting fibrinogen to fibrin involves several steps and requires other plasma proteins, as well as platelets and calcium ions. The resulting fibrin forms a mesh around the site of injury to form a blood clot.
The plasma proteins are the protein components of blood plasma. Plasma proteins perform a number of roles within the human body, including the regulation of pH, osmotic pressure, and other physiological activities. The main plasma proteins include albumins, globulins, and fibrinogen.
Albumins are the smallest and most abundant plasma proteins. Albumins make up over 50% of all plasma proteins. Albumins help to maintain oncotic pressure within blood vessels by preventing fluid leakage into tissues, while also maintaining normal blood pressure.
Globulins, also known as immunoglobulins (Ig), are made up of different subclasses of antibodies that help to protect the body from infection. Globulins make up approximately 25% of all plasma proteins.
Fibrinogen is a single polypeptide chain that forms long fibers when activated by thrombin during blood clotting reactions. Fibrinogen is made up of three polypeptide chains: Aα, Bβ, and γ chains.
Transferrin
In normal plasma, transferrin transports iron from the reticuloendothelial system to the bone marrow and other cells of the body.
In an acute phase response, the concentration of alpha1-acid glycoprotein (orosomucoid) in the plasma increases about 10-fold, with a longer half-life than that of albumin.
Alpha1-acid glycoprotein binds basic drugs such as propranolol, diazepam and warfarin.
Acute phase proteins include C-reactive protein (CRP), ceruloplasmin, haptoglobin, alpha1-antitrypsin, complement components and serum amyloid A protein.
The most important acute phase protein is C-reactive protein (CRP). CRP is produced by hepatocytes in response to proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 6 (IL6) or tumour necrosis factor (TNF).
Plasma proteins are divided into two groups based on their function.
The first group is transport proteins, which includes albumin, globulins, and fibrinogen. These proteins have the ability to bind to many different substances including ions, lipids and other proteins. Albumin is responsible for binding iodine and fatty acids. Globulins are responsible for transporting metals (e.g., iron) and lipids. Fibrinogen is responsible for blood clotting.
Last Words
Although there is a small correlation between the surface type and the function of certain plasma proteins, it is important to point out that the presence or absence of carbohydrate chains on the cell surface can be used to predict carbohydrate-binding glycoprotein function. The appropriate plasma protein can be matched by considering both function and surface type.