Chromatographic separation of serum proteins and estimation of their zinc and copper content.

Human serum proteins of blood donors and dialysis patients were separated by means of gel filtration chromatography. The resulting fractions were analyzed for copper and zinc. Separation resulted in 3 zinc peaks with a molecular weight of about 700,000, 300,000, and 75,000 Dalton, with alpha 2-macroglobulin co-eluting in the first and albumin co-eluting in the third zinc peak.