Aqueous extracts of meconium obtained from normal children and from patients with meconium ileus were examined by means of chemical precipitation, paper electrophoresis and precipitin tests. All the extracts from patients with meconium ileus were found to contain protein which was readily precipitated by trichloracetic acid. In 59 extracts of meconium from normal infants no protein could be demonstrated by the use of trichloracetic acid. In the abnormal extracts, the major constituent was found to be identical with serum albumin, both by paper, electrophoretic-migration studies at two pH levels and by precipitin tests with anti-albumin horse serum. Other protein components were found on electrophoresis that were similar, but not necessarily identical with, the alpha-, beta-, and gamma-globulins of human serum. The extracts from normal meconium gave only a very faint reaction for protein. The electrophoretic pattern did not in any way resemble that obtained with the abnormal extract. Precipitin tests showed that the albumin content of the normal extract was about 1-2% of that of the abnormal extract. After electrophoretic separation of the components of extracts of meconium from patients with meconium ileus, the stainable carbohydrate was found to be greater in the "alpha" region than in the corresponding area for normal serum. The possible role of plasma proteins in the formation of abnormal meconium in meconium ileus is discussed.
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Green et al. (1958) studied this question.