“Some observations on the presence of albumin in the bile”

The presence of albumin in the bile under pathological conditions has been noticed by several observers. Thus, Lehmann, 1 who examined post-mortem bile from the gall bladder in 100 cases, found albumin in nutmeg liver, fatty liver, and parenchymatous hepatitis. Pouchet 2 found albumin in the bile of six patients that died of cholera. Among recent observers may be mentioned Brauer 3 who has reported similar findings in typhus and parenchymatous nephritis. Hallauer 4 analyzed the bile in a number of cases. He found albumin in 5 out of 6 cases of cloudy swelling of the liver associated with pneumonia, miliary tuberculosis and sepsis; also in some cases of fatty liver, but none in cirrhosis of the liver. Experimentally, in rabbits, he obtained an albuminocholia after intravenous injection of albumose.

Within the past two years several other investigations on the experimental production of albuminocholia have been described. Brauer 1 in his paper “on the study of the liver,” in the Zeitschrift für physiologische Chemie, reported the presence of albumin in the bile of a dog with a permanent biliary fistula after poisoning with ethyl alcohol and small quantities, 3-5 c.c., of amyl alcohol. At his suggestion Pilzecker 2 carried out a similar study on the bile of dogs with permanent gall bladder fistulas after poisoning with phosphorus and arsenic. His result seemed to corroborate the work of Brauer. Another interesting statement which both observers made was to the effect that albumin passes more readily into the bile than it does into the urine. In this connection attention was also called to the work of Hallauer and Gürber 3 who, after the intravenous injection of casein solution into rabbits, recovered considerable quantities of it from the bile as well as from the urine.