Abstract
Pathological and normal human biles were fractionated centrifugally in the presence of salts. Subsequently, coagulat-ing effect on calcium carbonate suspension in water of the resulting fractions was examined. The fractions obtained from pathological bile showed the coagulating effects, whereas the fractions obtained from normal bile did not show any significant effect. Further fractionation on DEAE-Sephadex A-50 column of the major fraction (Fr. 2) of pathological bile afforded several subfractions. These subfractions, except SF H2O, showed the coagulating effects. Of these subfractions, one of the major fractions, SF 0.2, showed the strongest coagulating effect. The active fractions were characterized as sulfated glycoproteins by chemical analysis. The present data together with the previous findings suggest that sulfated glycoproteins are responsible for gallstone formation.
