A comparison of the efficiencies of hydrophobic interaction chromatography, ion-exchange chromatography, reversed-phase chromatography and gel permeation chromatography in the separation of tear proteins was made using a variety of different buffers. Separation of immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, albumin, PMFA (protein migrating faster than albumin) and lysozyme was accomplished by gel permeation chromatography in less than 30 min using a TSK-type SW3000 column equilibrated with ammonium acetate buffer (pH 4.1) with a high reproducibility. When gel permeation chromatography was used as a completely automated diagnostic method, only minute volumes (1.0 microliter) of tear samples were necessary for the quantitative analysis of proteins. The other three methods proved to be more suitable for the preparation of individual tear proteins but were less suitable for their quantitation.