Specific sequence-directed anti-bilitranslocase antibodies as a tool to detect potentially bilirubin-binding proteins in different tissues of the rat

The hypothesis that the uneven distribution of bilirubin in the organism, w hich occurs in hyperbilirubinemia, could reflect an uneven distribution of bilirubin-binding proteins was tested by searching for peptides containing the bilirubin-binding motif identified in bilitranslocase (Battiston et al, , 1998), In the rat, positive proteins bands were found to be present only in the liver, gastric mucosa and central nervous system, The electrophoreti c mobilities of the positive compounds in the liver and stomach mere identi cal to that of purified bilitranslocase (38 kDa), In the brain, on the cont rary, two peptides were found with molecular masses of 79 and 34 kDa, respe ctively. Their distribution pattern in the central nervous system was diffe rent for each of them. (C) 1999 Federation of European Biochemical Societie s.