STABILIZATION OF ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN STRUCT URE BY SUCROSE

By means of scanning microcalorimetry and fluorescent spectroscopy, th e addition of sucrose was shown to stabilize the structure of human al pha-fetoprotein (AFP). The stabilizing effect was not eliminated durin g eight-day dialysis of AFP against a buffer containing no sucrose, bu t it can be substantially weakened by treating AFP with a specific enz yme, invertase, which splits sucrose into fructose and glucose. This i ndicates that human AFP is capable of specific sucrose binding.