Immunological study of proteins and mucosubstance in saline soluble human ocular mucus.

Proteins and mucosubstance of the saline extract of human ocular mucus were studied by immunological analysis. A minor study was made with human tears for comparison. Immunoelectrophoresis of proteins from these two sources consistently revealed similar characteristic gel patterns. Proteins were found as the major constituents of both samples. However, more mucosubstance was present in the saline extract of human ocular mucus than in tears. Seventeen proteins were identified in the mucus extract. Albumin, IgA, and lactoferrin appeared to be the three major proteins, while lysozyme, lactoferrin, tear prealbumin, and ocular mucoisolate were tear and ocular mucus specific. Although saline soluble mucoisolate is complex in structure, it seemed to resist electrical dissociation, producing only one major precipitation line along with a line of IgA during immunoelectrophoresis. The ocular mucoisolate accounted for about 12% of the saline extractable proteins of human ocular mucus.