In eutherians, patterns of plasma protein levels in blood change during the acute phase response to trauma and inflammation. Until now, such an acute phase response has not been characterised in a noneutherian species. Here we describe the acute phase response in a marsupial species, the South American polyprotodont marsupial Monodelphis domestica, after brain surgery or injection of lipopolysaccharide. Several days after brain surgery, transthyretin was not detected in plasma. For 48 hr following injection of lipopolysaccharide, the concencration of haptoglobin in plasma increased, that of transthyretin decreased, and the concentration of albumin in plasma did not change significantly. The American polyprotodont marsupials are probably more closely related to the common ancestor marsupial than the Australian marsupials are. It is most likely that the transthyretin gene was not expressed in the liver of this common ancestor. As the transthyretin gene is expressed in the liver of M. domestica, it seems that as soon as transthyretin is synthesised by the liver, it is under negative acute phase control.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Biochemistry and cell biology
Research Field:	Protein trafficking
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences
UTAS Author:	Dziegielewska, KM (Dr Kate Dziegielewska)
UTAS Author:	Andersen, NA (Dr Niels Andersen)
ID Code:	13731
Year Published:	1998
Web of Science® Times Cited:	8
Deposited By:	Anatomy and Physiology
Deposited On:	1998-08-01
Last Modified:	2011-08-08
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