Measurement of conjugated and unconjugated bilirubin in bile. II. A new thin-layer chromatographic method.

A new thin-layer chromatographic (TLC) method is described for measurement of conjugated (CB) and unconjugated (UCB) bilirubin in bile. Bile is streaked on a silica-gel plate and developed with chloroform. Bilirubin in the mobile UCB band and stationary CB band is quantitated by diazotization from the scraped gel with p-iodoaniline reagent. Both CB and UCB in bile yielded identical azopigment absorbance. There was no contamination of the UBC band with either CB or oxidative derivatives of bilirubin, and over 98 per cent added 14C-UBC migrated with the mobile band. Recoveries from TLC averaged 98.2 +/- 4.3 per cent of the applied pigment, duplicated agreed within 10 per cent, and the method accurately detected the enzymatic and alkaline hydrolysis of CB to UCB. Concentrations of UCB in nine samples of normal human gallbladder bile were found to be less than 1.9 mg./dl. and never exceeded 1.2 per cent of the total bilirubin.