INTERACTION OF MERCURY WITH HUMAN AND BOVINE-MILK

The interaction of inorganic mercury with human and bovine milk protei ns was studied, Gel filtration chromatography of skimmed milk and whey incubated with mercury showed that, in human milk, mercury was mainly bound to caseins, while a low proportion was bound to albumin, In bov ine milk, mercury was associated with two protein fractions, caseins a nd beta-lactoglobulin. Furthermore, it was shown by electrophoresis th at mercury induced the formation of dimers of beta-lactoglobulin, Thus , in both human and bovine milk, mercury prossessed greater ability to interact with milk proteins than to the low-molecular-weight substanc es, However, the pattern of mercury distribution was different between the milk of these two species.