THE BLOOD chemistry of the nephrotic syndrome is characterized by (1) lipemia, with elevation of all the plasma lipids, and (2) hypoproteinemia, with low albumin and gamma globulin fractions.
The cause of the lipemia is obscure. The low protein level is probably not (as the coincidence of lipemia with hypoproteinemia and edema might suggest) the sole determining factor, for in malnutrition when the proteins are also low the lipids show no consistent elevation. In the dog they may be unaffected1 or rise moderately2; in man they tend to be decreased rather than elevated.3
However, it is believed that the lipemia is related in some way to the abnormal plasma protein levels in nephrosis. This view receives support from demonstrations that in nephrotic blood the quantity of lipid chemically associated with specific plasma protein fractions (for example, beta globulin) may be increased above normal.4
To investigate this