Abstract

Treatment of human serum with ammonium sulfate fraction (0-50%) of Alocasia macrorhiza tuber extract resulted in precipitation at neutral pH. The precipitate was dissolved at pH 10.5 and chromatographed on Sephadex G-100 column. Two protein peaks were resolved. While the first peak represented α2-macroglobulin and haptoglobin, the second peak accounted for specific Alocasia protein. Incidentally the Alocasia protein was shown to be responsible for selective and specific precipitation of α2-macroglobulin and haptoglobin from serum. Thus the plant protein in its pure form or in crude stage could be used for the rapid isolation of two of the prominent a2-globulins.

Keywords: alocasia macrorhiza, macroglobulin, haptoglobin, alocasia protein, alocasia specific serum protein