Albumin-bound fluorescence in serum of patients with chronic renal failure.

A band that is strongly fluorescent and migrates electrophoretically with serum albumin is commonly found in electrophoretograms of sera from patients with chronic renal failure. We sought to determine whether the fluorescence originates from binding of certain still-unidentified metabolites or drugs, from an abnormal albumin species, or from some other protein entity. Molecular-exclusion column chromatography, polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focusing, and cellulose acetate electrophoresis, along with results of charcoal treatment and alcohol extraction, provided evidence that the fluorescence comes from fluorescent ligands tightly bound to albumin. The fluorescent intensity of the albumin fraction, isolated by molecular-exclusion chromatography, coincides with the albumin-associated fluorescence determined electrophoretically and with the intensities of the fluorescence emission spectrum for serum. A fluorescent species with an emission maximum of 415 +/- 5 nm, separated by thin-layer chromatography, appears to account for the increased serum fluorescence.