Figure 2.

SDS-PAGE of benzamidine-Sepharose enriched fraction of faecal extract samples. SDS-PAGE of chromatographic fractions of faecal extracts from patients with irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea (IBS-D) and healthy volunteers. Individual reference numbers are shown and red boxes denote representative regions excised for component identification. Note that similar profiles of components were recovered for all diseased individuals and that little or no protein was detected in healthy volunteers except for one individual who showed an SDS-PAGE profile comparable with IBS-D patients. Retrospectively it was apparent she did experience pain and some urgency though not enough to meet Rome criteria. The average transit time of these nine IBS patients was 21 h, stool frequency 3.0/day and urgency score 1.3 on a 0–3 scale, which is typical for the group whose average values were 19 h for transit, stool frequency 2.6/day and urgency score 1.6.