C M Colley

The activity of paraoxonase in serum was found to be bimodally distributed, both in a control group and in a group of patients who had suffered myocardial infarction. Activity in the myocardial infarct group was significantly lower than in the control group. Low paraoxonase activity in serum may provide an indication of susceptibility to the development of coronary heart disease.

The rate at which the acute phase protein response occurred after both major and minor surgery was explored. Increases in the plasma concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP), alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (alpha 1 AG) and fibrinogen were not detected until 6-8 h after the initial incision. The peak concentration of CRP occurred at 48 h and that of fibrinogen at 96 h; alpha 1 AG concentrations rose rapidly until 48 h followed by little change until about 120 h. Although there was widespread variation in the concentrations of individual proteins in patients, severity of injury did not seem to have a significant effect on the time course of the change. Plasma cortisol concentration and the total white blood cell count (WBC) reached their peaks before the acute phase proteins, cortisol at 6 h and WBC at 12 h.