A general method for fractionation of plasma proteins. Dye-ligand affinity chromatography on immobilized Cibacron blue F3-GA.

The chromatographic behaviour of 27 different plasma proteins on fractionation of human plasma on immobilized Cibacron Blue F3-GA was studied. The column was eluted by using a three-step procedure. First, a low-molarity buffer (30 mM-H3PO4/Na3PO4, pH 7.0, I0.053) was used, then a linear salt gradient (0-1 M-NaCl in the buffer above) was applied, followed by a wash with two bed volumes of 1.0 M-NaCl. Finally, bound proteins were 'stripped' with 0.5 M-NaSCN. Up to 1 ml of whole plasma could be loaded per 5 ml bed volume. No denaturation of proteinase inhibitors or complement fractions was observed. The recovery of individual proteins ranged between 52 and greater than 95%. Enrichment of four individual plasma components (alpha 1-antitrypsin, caeruloplasmin, antithrombin III and haemopexin) was between 10-fold and 75-fold. These results indicate that chromatography on immobilized Cibacron Blue F3-GA can be a useful initial step in the purification of plasma proteins.