Factors influencing the reaction of haptoglobin with concanavalin A in affino-immunoelectrophoresis.

In crossed affino-immunoelectrophoresis pure haptoglobin or that present in serum moved in the shape of either non-retarded or weakly-, or strongly-retarded fractions, related to varying Con A concentrations included into the first dimension gel. At low concentrations of Con A non-, weakly-, and strongly-retarded fractions were observed, whereas at higher concentrations only one, strongly-retarded fraction could be found. The number and percentage composition of haptoglobin fractions were dependent not only on the concentration of Con A, but also on other proteins added to the sample submitted to electrophoresis. Irregular distribution of haptoglobin Con A-dependent fractions made quantitative measurements unreliable.