Effects of Long-Term Storage on Human Serum Albumin. I. Chromatographic and Ultracentrifugal Aspects

The problem of the stability of normal human serum albumin during storage under various con-ditions is of considerable practical as well as theo-retical interest. The present report covers one phase of a long-term project undertaken in our laboratory to determine what changes occur in stored albumin, the conditions affecting these changes, and the most suitable methods for detect-ing protein alterations. MATERIALS AND METHODS Samples. The samples examined were vials of com-mercial normal serum albumin (human) from four lots prepared for administration to patients. The prepara-tion involved ethanol fractionation of human plasma by method 6 of Cohn and co-workers (1) and subsequent