The isolation and composition of the major glycoprotein from human gastric aspirates

Clinical aspects of gastrointestinal mucus

In such a bird's eye view of a very complicated and complex literature it is inevitable that significant contributions, particularly from earlier investigators, will have been overlooked. We have tried, however, to provide a reasonable framework for the many presentations and discussions which will take place at this conference. As in the past, it is evident that much needs to be done to reconcile the excellent histochemical studies of gastrointestinal mucus in many diseases with the increasing knowledge of mucin structure and composition. This will only be achieved by extraction of highly pure mucin from diseased bowel. In this regard, post mortem material provides an opportunity for mucin researchers which is not available to workers in other fields because of relative freedom from decomposition. The wedding of mucin technology with immunology is also a major priority. Immunoassay techniques provide the answer to quick and accurate product identification in secretion studies. Specific monoclonal antibodies will provide the route to structural differentiation of antigens in complex mixtures. It is also evident that we must seek to develop a variety of controllable models for the study of functional parameters of mucus in physiological conditions, parasite rejection, neoplasia and inflammatory states. Promising initiatives have been touched upon in this review, but these must only be the beginning. One must conclude, however, by recognizing that advances in knowledge have been truly remarkable since the last conference in 1976. One senses that some of the keys which will one day unlock the gates of this "ill-defined" kingdom are already in hand, while the remainder are at least within reach.

Characterization of peptic inhibitory activity associated with sulfated glycoprotein isolated from gastric mucosa

Sulfated glycoproteins were extracted and purified from porcine stomach mucous scraping. Four sulfated glycoprotein fractions were separated and subsequently purified. These compounds always accompanied the apparent peptic inhibitory activity and consisted of 15-18% (w/w) protein. The carbohydrate portions contained an equimolar ratio of galactose and hexosamine (mainly glucosamine), together with lesser amounts of fucose and sialic acid. The sulfate content of the above fractions was 2-9% (w/w) of the total sulfated glycoprotein. The mode of inhibition of the sulfated glycoproteins to peptic activity was investigated and suggested that there was binding of the sulfated glycoproteins to the substrate of pepsin, making the substrate resistant to peptic activity. The sulfated glycoproteins neither bound pepsin at pH 1.8 nor inhibited the hydrolysis of a synthetic dipeptide substrate of pepsin. Desulfation of the sulfated glycoproteins resulted in the loss of both the inhibitory activity and the precipitate formation. The precipitation curve for sulfated glycoprotein and porcine serum albumin showed that both bound in varying proportions and suggests that both components are multivalent in this precipitate formation.

[Isolation and composition of a glycoprotein from lamb gastric mucosa]

A glycoprotein is isolated from lamb gastric mucosa. It is purified first by reduction with dithiothreitol and then by chromatography on CM-Sephadex followed by gelfiltration on Sephadex G-75. Its homogeneity is investigated by disc electrophoresis, immunoelectrophoresis, analytical ultracentrifugation and identification of the carboxy- and amino-terminal amino acids. This glycoprotein contains 56 p. cent carbohydrates, consisting of N-glycolyneuraminic acid, fucose, galactose, and hexosamines. Hexosamines and galactose are in equimolar ratio ; galactosamine and glucosamine in the ratio 1 :2. The amino acid composition shows that threonine, serine and proline account for half of the amino acid residues. The cysteine origin and function are discussed.

A comparative study of the major glycoprotein isolated from normal and neoplastic gastric mucosa

The isolation and composition of glycoproteins from mucosae of normal stomachs, of stomachs with gastric ulcer, and of stomachs with carcinoma is described. The glycoproteins from the mucosae of normal stomachs and with gastric ulcer showed virtually the same carbohydrate and amino acid content as the principal gastric glycoprotein isolated from gastric aspirates. They all revealed a common basic carbohydrate composition: galactose, fucose, glucosamine, and galactosamine were present in approximate molar ratios of 4:3:3:1. THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE GLYCOPROTEINS ISOLATED FROM GASTRIC ASPIRATES FROM NORMAL AND NEOPLASTIC GASTRIC MUCOSAE SHARE A NUMBER OF STRUCTURAL FEATURES: (1) a protein core with a characteristic amino acid composition; (2) the range of sugars forming the carbohydrate side chains; (3) galactosamine approximately equimolar with the sum of threonine and serine; (4) galactose approximately equimolar with the sum of glucosamine and galactosamine; (5) absence of mannose; (6) a high carbohydrate content (80-85%); and (7) blood group activity. The neoplastic glycoproteins differed from the normal glycoproteins in that the quantitative relationships of the carbohydrate components of the neoplastic glycoproteins showed variations dividing the extracts investigated into groups, each group with a distinctive and constant carbohydrate composition. The blood group specificity of 15 out of 24 cases investigated differed from that of the hosts' red cells.