Differences in chemical composition between the epithelial glycoproteins of the upper and lower halves of rat colon.

Analysis of the apparently homogeneous sulfated sialoglycoproteins isolated from the epithelial cells of the upper (proximal to the ileum) and lower (proximal to the rectum) halves of Wistar rat colon showed that whereas they were similar in overall carbohydrate and amino acid composition, they differed significantly in the O-acetyl substitution pattern of their constituent sialic acids. The glycoprotein from the upper half of the colon was found to contain a larger percentage of sialic acid substitued at C7 and/or C8, as well as at C4 and C7 and/or C8; it contained less sialic acid which was unsubstituted as well as less subsituted at C4 alone. It has been shown that differences in substitution at C7 and/or C8 can be detected by analysis of the 105 000 g supernatants prepared from homogenates of isolated epithelial cells or fresh or formol calcium fixed whole colonic tissue.