Toxic protein from trichloroethylene‐extracted soybean oil meal

Abstract

Summary Fractionation studies have been carried out on a specially prepared undenatured toxic trichloroethylene‐extracted soybean oil meal to determine which component of the meal is associated with the toxicity. Calf‐assay of the samples indicated that the toxic factor is associated with the protein. The toxic factor associated with the protein is labile to strong acid hydrolysis. Measurable destruction of the toxic factors occurs when the protein is treated with alkali at pH 11–12 at 60°C. Because destruction of the toxic factor occurred when the neutral protein dispersion was autoclaved for 1 hr. and was followed by an alkaline treatment simulating the pH conditions encountered in tryptic digestion, it was not possible to evaluate the effect of tryptic digestion upon the toxic factor. Analyses of the toxic protein failed to indicate the nature of the reaction of trichloroethylene with the protein to produce the toxicity.