Measurement of the distribution of indium-111 on human plasma proteins using immunoprecipitation.

The distribution of radioactivity on plasma proteins labeled by addition of [111In]oxine to citrated plasma was investigated. Analyses of plasma proteins separated on Sephadex G-200 columns showed that 23-36% of the 111In was associated with proteins with molecular weight greater than 200,000 daltons and the remaining 111In was associated with proteins with molecular weight less than 100,000 daltons, presumably transferrin. Affinity chromatography experiments showed that less than 2% of the radioactivity was associated with albumin. Further identification of the labeled proteins and quantitation of associated radioactivity was performed by precipitating specific proteins with antibodies. These studies showed that the 111In was distributed on transferrin (54-76%), fibrinogen (11-24%), IgM (8-20%), C3 (10-21%), and haptoglobin (3-8%). 111In associated with fibrinogen, IgM, and haptoglobin was over-estimated in some experiments due to binding of 111In-labeled C3 to the antigen-antibody precipitates.