Gastric Juice Sulphomucoprotein and Vitamin B₁₂ Binding

Abstract

Purely sulphate-containing mucoprotein fraction was isolated from human gastric juice and incubated with radiovitamin B₁₂. The mixture was run in polyacrylamide electrophoresis and the radioactivity measured from the electrophoretically different sulphomucoprotein bands. The slower fraction was observed to bind radiovitamin distinctly when cold vitamin had been added to electrophoretic buffer solution. The results with normal and pernicious anemia gastric juice were identical. If cold vitamin was omitted from the electrophoretic milieu, the radioactivity of the mucoprotein band could not be detected. The existence of a dynamic equilibrium between free and sulphonuicoprotein-bound radiovitamin is suggested.

Index-words::

• Gastric juice
• anemia, pernicious
• vitamin B₁₂
• mucoproteins