Normal human bile was collected under aseptic condition. Subsequently, it was frozen without preservative until use. A mixture of 40 bile samples was fractionated centrifugally in the presence of salts. The resulting fractions showed strong coagulating effects on calcium carbonate suspension in water. The major frac tions contained sulfated glycoproteins as the principal component and small amounts of acidic glycosaminoglycans. The present data together with previous observations suggest that

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... lfated glycoproteins and acidic glycosaminoglycans detected in the present normal bile samples might be a result of bacterial infection.sulfated glycoprotein; normal human bile; coagulating effect In the previous papers (Nagashima et al. 1974a, b), pathological and normal human biles were fractionated. Of the resulting fractions, the fractions containing sulfated glycoprotein obtained from pathological bile showed strong coagulating effects on calcium carbonate suspension in water. However, the fractions obtained from normal bile did not show any significant effect. Moreover, no sulfated glycoprotein was detected in the previous samples of normal bile, which were collected and fractionated under aseptic conditions. Nevertheless, when other normal bile samples were collected without much precautions against bacterial infection, sulfated glycoproteins were detected in the bile. Furthermore, the fractions containing sulfated glycoprotein also showed strong coagulating effects on calcium carbonate suspension in water. This paper deals with sulfated glyco proteins in normal bile samples.