Crystalline Trypsin Inhibitors from the Indian Field Bean and the Double Bean

Abstract

WHILE studying the digestibilities of some Indian pulses, Gaitonde and Sohonie¹, from this laboratory, reported the detection of a trypsin inhibitor in field bean, Dolichos lablab. Since then, Sohonie and collaborators² have surveyed various Indian foodstuffs for the inhibitory factor and studied their properties in general. The field bean was found by them to be a fairly rich source of this principle and, as a continuation of their work, a simple method by which the trypsin inhibitor from field beans is obtained in a crystalline form is described here. Kunitz³, Bowman⁴, Tauber and co-workers⁵ have isolated similar crystalline preparations from different plant materials such as soybean, navy bean and lima bean respectively.