Plasma proteins in meconium from normal infants and from babies with cystic fibrosis.

Cellulose acetate strip electrophoresis was found to be not sufficiently reliable to 
differentiate between normal and CF meconium, but marked differences were obtained 
when quantitative immunoelectrophoretic methods were employed. Normal meconium was shown to 
contain alpha1-antitrypsin and alpha1-antichymotrypsin and most samples contained low concentrations of 
albumin, and measurable amounts of a variety of other plasma proteins. 
It is suggested that quantitative immunoelectrophoresis could be used as a 
means of confirming the diagnosis of CF if positive results are 
obtained when meconium specimens are screened with test strips. 