[citation needed] Albumin transports hormones, fatty acids, and other compounds, buffers pH, and maintains oncotic pressure, among other functions.

Albumin is synthesized in the liver as preproalbumin, which has an N-terminal peptide that is removed before the nascent protein is released from the rough endoplasmic reticulum.

Human serum albumin (HSA) is a highly water-soluble globular monomeric plasma protein with a relative molecular weight of 67 KDa, consisting of 585 amino acid residues, one sulfhydryl group and 17 disulfide bridges.

Among nanoparticulate carriers, HSA nanoparticles have long been the center of attention in the pharmaceutical industry due to their ability to bind to various drug molecules, great stability during storage and in vivo usage, no toxicity and antigenicity, biodegradability, reproducibility, scale up of the production process and a better control over release properties.

[10] Low albumin (hypoalbuminemia) may be caused by liver disease, nephrotic syndrome, burns, protein-losing enteropathy, malabsorption, malnutrition, late pregnancy, artefact, genetic variations and malignancy.

)[11] This swelling also likely occurs during treatment with 13-cis retinoic acid (isotretinoin), a pharmaceutical for treating severe acne, amongst other conditions.

[13] This can be caused by: In clinical medicine, hypoalbuminemia significantly correlates with a higher mortality rates in several conditions such as heart failure, post-surgery, COVID-19.

Human albumin is often used to replace lost fluid and help restore blood volume in trauma, burns and surgery patients.

There is no strong medical evidence that albumin administration (compared to saline) saves lives for people who have hypovolaemia or for those who are critically ill due to burns or hypoalbuminaemia.

[37] In plasma of healthy young adults, 70–80% of total HSA contains the free sulfhydryl group of Cys34 in a reduced form or mercaptoalbumin (HSA-SH).

[39][40] The albumin thiol reacts with radical hydroxyl (.OH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and the reactive nitrogen species as peroxynitrite (ONOO.

[41] Presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS), can induce irreversible structural damage and alter protein activities.

[citation needed] In the healthy kidney, albumin's size and negative electric charge exclude it from excretion in the glomerulus.