Immunological and electrophoretic studies of human tear proteins

The proteins in tears have been demonstrated to be highly heterogeneous; at least 60 components can be counted in a two-dimensional acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Monospecific antisera and tear proteins antisera were used for the study of these proteins. With this method, thirteen proteins were identified, seven of them behaving identically in tears and in serum. Use of human tear antiserum adsorbed eith human serum demonstrated that some of the components were tear specific. A novel crossed immunoelectrophoretic system was developed to demonstrate that specific tear prealbumin is composed of at least two immunological components. These results confirm and emphasize the complexity and the distinctiveness of human tear proteins.