Serum glycoproteins in growing pups

¹ Department of Physiology and Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Total protein-bound hexose, hexosamine, and sialic acid were determined in sera of six littermate mongrel pups at monthly intervals from the 4th day after birth up to the age of 7 months. The concentration of the individual constituents fluctuated considerably from month to month, but the values showed neither a definite trend nor a relationship to weight gain. When the carbohydrate moiety was expressed as percentage of total serum protein concentration, the values were high in newborn pups and diminished after the 1st month of life. This was due to a rise in the concentration of total serum protein, brought about by an increase of the albumin fraction which is low in carbohydrate.