[Binding capacity of sex hormone binding globulin and corticosteroid binding globulin in serum of male patients with liver cirrhosis (author's transl)].

The binding capacities of SHBG and CBG were measured by agar gel electrophoresis in 63 men with cirrhosis of the liver and in 42 healthy male subjects. The normal range (X- +/- 2s) for SHBG was 8.3-17.1 microgram/l, for CBG 46.4-82.8 micrograms/l. SHBG binding capacity was significantly higher in men with liver cirrhosis (mean 18;1 microgram/l; p less than 0.001) but CBG binding capacity was significantly lower (mean 49.7 microgram/l; p less than 0.001). Although SHBG was lower in patients with decreased CBG binding capacity, a correlation between both steroid binding proteins did not exist. Moreover, there was no correlation between SHBG or CBG on one hand and other parameters of hepatic protein synthesis such as serum protein concentration, cholinesterase activity and the coagulation factors V and VII on the other hand. In contrast to liver cirrhosis, 12 patients with fatty liver and 11 patients with toxic fibrosis of the liver did not reveal changes in SHBG or CBG. Treatment with spironolactone (200 mg daily for one week in 9 subjects) did not change the steroid binding capacity of human serum.