Extravascular Albumin

Albumin, the major secretory protein synthesized by the liver, is widely distributed throughout the body and is present in the vascular and extravascular volumes of all organs and tissues. In normal persons, approximately one third of the total exchangeable albumin mass is located within the plasma, and two thirds is in the extraplasma spaces.1 When albumin is injected into the plasma, it appears to enter interstitial compartments at two distinct rates, one relatively rapid and the other slow. The slow exchange probably occurs primarily in the interstitial space of skin and muscle, with the skin containing the largest fraction of . . .