“Liver, liver, liver.  No matter how many times I say it, it doesn’t sound exciting or sexy.  As I’ve said before, it is the most ignored and one of the most important organs.  It is the only organ in your body that receives blood from the heart and another organ-your intestines.  When I talk about the liver, do people think I said kidney?  I wonder this a lot.  It is probably because it is so complex and involved in so many bodily functions that most people get lost in the minutia.”

Albu what??!!??
 

MORE ABOUT PROTEINS

 In the previous blog, we were talking about proteins that the liver produces.  It got so complicated that I decided to break it down a bit more.  So, today I’ll be talking to you about the most important and the most abundant of the proteins:

ALBUMIN

Albumin is the major protein in plasma.  Plasma is the liquid component of blood, where the red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are suspended.  Plasma constitutes more than half of the blood’s volume and consists mostly of water that contains dissolved salts (electrolytes) and proteins.  Albumin performs many function including helping to keep the fluid portion of your blood within the blood vessels, and helping to transport drugs and other substances by way of the bloodstream. Albumin plays an indispensable role in maintaining the delicate chemical balance of the nourishing interstitial fluids that surround and support the trillions of cells in your body. Interstitial fluid is a thin layer of fluid that surrounds your body’s cells.

  It acts as a kind of fueling station in terms of nutrients for our cells.  Interstitial fluid contains glucose, salt, fatty acids and minerals such as magnesium and potassium.  This fluid can also hold waste products that result from metabolism.  If these fluids are healthy, your cells will flourish. But if the fluids become polluted, or depleted of certain substances, your cells cannot help but fall ill, and disease will sweep through the body 

Albumin has been described as a "portable liver" because your liver is your body's chief mechanism for disarming toxins and other dangerous substances. Albumin, which is made in your liver, does the same throughout the body. It's as if your liver has sent millions of tiny pieces of itself to every single little cell, to round up and destroy harmful substances and organisms.  Albumin is like a filter that removes toxins from water, like the net that scoops debris out of a swimming pool, or the dispenser that squirts vitamin D into milk.   It ensures that bodily fluids are clean, filled with nutrients, and properly balanced. And when you're filled with health-giving fluid, you cannot help but be healthy.

THE BODY INVADERS

The battle against what Morgan refers to as “body invaders” is protein based.  The immune system utilizes many protein-based substances to fight off the invasion by rapidly producing more protein-based substances to defend the body.  But, there can only be a certain concentration of all proteins in the body.  When the concentration of immune system proteins goes up, the concentration of other proteins must fall. 

One of the proteins that decreases when the immune system is engaged in battle is albumin, and that’s where the trouble lies.  Temporary drops in albumin levels are necessary and not a problem.  The problem comes when you are continually battling invaders and your albumin runs low for months on end.  When the level of albumin in your blood is low, it is a good indication that your liver is not working properly.  The normal level of albumin is between 3.5-5 grams per deciliter (g/dl).

Albumin levels drop when the immune system engages in a battle with invading bacteria, viruses, fungi, inhaled toxins, dangerous substances you eat or drink or, that get in through your skin, respiratory system, and “other” ports of entry.   But, there are some things that can artificially, or temporarily, lower your albumin level such as the level of hydration in your body, dehydration will cause fluctuation in albumin.   Also, malnutrition-not getting enough protein in your diet.

Albumin’s many important duties:

·         Protecting easily damaged tissues from the free radicals (we’ll go into these a bit more at a later time) that can destroy your cells and cause cancer by altering your cellular DNA

·         Guarding against heart disease by transporting the antioxidant vitamins that help keep your coronary arteries clean, binding up fatty acids that tend to clog your arteries, and stabilizing  the ratio  between HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol).  

·         Binds up waste products, toxins, and dangerous drugs that would otherwise damage your body and encourage disease.  It also detoxifies the interstitial fluid surrounding cells.

·         Protects your biological terrain by buffering your blood against pH changes (pH is a measure of acidity).

·         It helps keep your blood flowing smoothly by preventing red blood cells and other substances from clumping together.

·         It is essential for transporting vitamins, magnesium, copper, zinc, bilirubin, uric acid, sex hormones, thyroid hormones, other hormones, and fatty acids throughout your body.

·         It regulates the movement of nutrients between your blood and your body’s cells.

·         Stabilizes your red blood cells and growth hormones.

·         Plays a major role in controlling the precise amount of water in various bodily tissues.

·         Plays an important role in transporting and circulating reservoirs of thyroid hormones.

·         Purifies the cerebrospinal fluid, nourishes brain cells, and maintains your blood-brain barrier.

·         Helps to ensure that there are adequate amounts of certain key minerals in your bones.

·         Binds and transports the “stress hormone” cortisol, reducing stress-induced damage to the thymus gland, brain, and connective tissues.

“The reason I’ve gone into this crazy discussion about albumin is because of how important it is to your body and mostly, because when your doctor orders blood work, one of the many things you will see is ALB-albumin.  I want you to know how to interpret it.  Be aware, that just because your albumin level is in the normal range doesn’t necessarily mean that your liver is healthy and happy.  In some instances, your albumin can remain in the normal range until your liver is severely damaged-perhaps beyond repair.  So, as I always say LOVE YOUR LIVER!”

Morgan

Morgan here! 

“I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the proteins I produce and what they do.  This stuff can be so complicated that you almost need a medical degree to understand it.  Macrophages phagocytize what?!!?  I’m a liver, not a brain!  But, this is what I’ve come up with: 

I produce many proteins-

• Each protein does a different task;
• Each task is very specialized, but
•  All tasks are very similar.

Class Again???

Kind of sounds like a riddle but I’m going to break it down for you the best I can.” Here I go:

Proteins are molecules made from tiny building blocks called amino acids and are a vital part of all living things.  Protein builds, maintains, and replaces the tissue in your body.  Your muscles, your organs and your immune system are made up mostly of proteins.  They are essential for life.  After water, protein is the most plentiful substance in your body.

Proteins Produced By Your Liver

Albumin – The most common protein found in your blood.  It provides your body with the protein needed to both maintain growth and repair tissues.  Inflammation and infection will cause an albumin level to drop. Albumin helps retain calcium in the blood stream and regulates the movement of water from your bloodstream into your tissues.

Globin- One of the two components that form hemoglobin (hemoglobin is the oxygen-carrying substance in red blood cells).

Globulins – A group of proteins that includes antibodies.  These are the proteins that make up the complement system (a part of the immune system) that combines with antibodies to fight invading microorganisms.

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) – A protein found in all body tissues.  Tissues with higher amounts of ALP include the liver, bile ducts, and bone.  Blood levels may be increased in any liver disease, but more markedly with cholestasis (a stoppage or slowing of the flow of bile).

Alpha 1 (AAT) – Plasma protein that inhibits the activity of trypsin and other proteolytic enzymes (these enzymes facilitate the breakdown of rouge proteins in your bloodstream and in the soft tissue of your body.)  The main function is to protect the lungs from inflammation caused by infection and inhaled irritants.  Inherited deficiency of Alpha 1 leads to emphysema and sometimes cirrhosis.

Antibodies – proteins produced in response to a foreign and potentially harmful invader. They have a special shape, and combine chemically with these substances to flush them out of your body.

Ceruloplasmin – Copper transporter protein.  It also plays a role in iron metabolism.  This protein transports 95% of  the copper in your blood plasma.  Copper plays an important role in the body by aiding important bodily processes, such as producing energy, forming connective tissue, and helping the central nervous system function.

Aminotransferase- A hepatocyte enzyme that modifies proteins (hepatocyte is a cell of the main tissue of the liver).  Blood levels increase in the setting of hepatocyte death.  The two aminotransferases important in liver disease are AST (aspartate aminotransferase) and ALT (alanine aminotransferase). AST is normally found in a variety of tissues including liver, heart, muscle, kidney and brain.  It is released when any one of these tissues is damaged.  For example, AST level in your bloodstream is elevated in heart attacks or muscle injury.  It is therefore, not a highly specific indication of liver injury as its elevation can occur as a result of other injured tissues.  ALT is, by contrast, normally found largely in the liver.  This is not to say that it is exclusively located in the liver, but that is where it is most concentrated.  It is released into the bloodstream as a result of liver injury.  Thus, it serves as a fairly specific indicator of liver status. (Plucky reminded me that I need to reference MedicineNet.com, November 8, 2014 here)

Prothrombin – A protein that helps to clot blood.  A prothrombin time test measures how much time it takes for a person’s blood to clot.  The normal time needed is between 10-15 seconds.  A longer prothrombin time can be caused by a number of things including serious liver disease, a lack of Vitamin K, blood-thinning medication or certain bleeding disorders.

 

“WOW! That was a lot to learn! I’m tired from just reading about all that goes on inside of me. And, I’ve just been told that by no means is this a complete list of all the proteins I produce.  Did you know what happens to my production  of one of these proteins if you don’t drink enough fluids? (no, beer doesn’t count as a fluid). OK, I’ll let you think about that one cause enough for today. I’ll  cover each in more detail in my future blogs.”

Mogan