Identification of haptoglobin in chicken serum and specificity of the chicken haptoglobin-hemoglobin complex formation.

ABSTRACT

1. The presence of haptoglobin in chicken serum has been demonstrated by three different techniques gel filtration, cellulose acetate electrophoresis and fluorescence quenching. 2. Chicken haptoglobin shows a narrow species specificity; it binds only avian and reptilian but not mammalian hemoglobins. 3. Haptoglobin seems to have been subjected to profound changes during the course of evolution.