Abstract: An apparatus for the treatment of biological samples comprises: at least one column having an adsorbent layer made of adsorbent that fills a part of said column, and a reservoir forming the other part of said column; at least one vessel connected to said reservoir, said vessel being disposed so as to contain said samples to be supplied to said reservoir and/or media for treating said samples; a means for supplying said samples and/or media for treating said samples from said vessel to said reservoir; and a means for controlling said supply means. A method for the treatment of biological samples involves the use of the above-mentioned apparatus. With the use of the apparatus, the analysis of samples and also the isolation of desired substances from samples could be done automatically with accuracy in a simple procedure.

Abstract: A process for producing a reduced keratinous substance having a high adsorptive power for cationic substances, which comprises reducing a substance containing keratin as a main ingredient under alkaline conditions to cleave the disulfide linkages of the keratin, dissolving the reduced keratin in an aqueous medium containing urea or thiourea in a concentration of less than 5 moles/liter, and then acidifying the resulting solution to precipitate the dissolved reduced keratin under such conditions that the thiol side-chains present in the reduced keratin do not substantially undergo oxidation. The reduced keratinous substance is especially useful as a heavy metal ion capturing agent.