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Normal rats subjected to end-to-side portacaval shunt showed decreased survival and weight gain, a progressive fall in serum albumin and reciprocal rise in serum gamma globulin when compared with sham-operated controls for 12 weeks. Antibacterial lipopolysaccharide antibody was detected in significant titre at the sixth and twelfth weeks. It is suggested that the elevated levels of gamma globulin and reversal of albumin/globulin ratios noted in these animals may represent an immune response to bacterial lipopolysaccharides released into the systemic circulation as a result of the portacaval shunt. The hyperglobulinaemia of cirrhosis in human subjects may have a similar aetiology.

In previous studies of rats with portacaval shunts, elevated gamma-globulin levels 2 weeks after shunt were attributed to antibodies to bacterial lipopolysaccharide, which were normally filtered by the liver. This study was designed to determine the tempo of this rise and the magnitude of hepatocellular damage within the first 4 days of the operation. Acute reversible hepatocellular damage was shown by elevated levels of aspartate aminotransferase which returned to normal within 48 hours. This was confirmed on histology. There was no rise in gamma-globulin during this study but levels of albumin were better maintained in shunted rats than in sham-operated rats. Levels of alpha2 and beta-globulin in the former fell in comparison with the latter animals.