A study of the interaction of bromocresol green with isolated serum globulin fractions

Abstract

Electrophoretically isolated globulin fractions from normal and abnormal sera have been allowed to react with the bromocresol green (BCG) reagent as used for the determination of serum albumin. The α- and β-globulin fractions were found to react with BCG producing significant “albumin” peaks using a continuous automated method. The γ-globulin fraction did not react with the BCG reagent. Immunoprecipitation techniques were used to establish that the isolated globulin fractions did not contain significant amounts of contaminating albumin. The results from this study cast considerable doubt upon the specificity of BCG for albumin and explain the discrepancy between the BCG method and a cellulose acetate electrophoresis technique in the determination of low albumin levels in abnormal sera.