Studies on gastric mucoproteins. The production of radioactive mucoproteins by pig gastric mucosal scrapings in vitro.

1. Optimum conditions, including the effect of media of different pH values, were determined for the incorporation of radioactive precursors into mucoproteins by pig gastric mucosa in vitro. 2. Mucosal scrapings incorporated radioactivity from [U-(14)C]-glucose and from [G-(3)H]threonine or [G-(3)H]serine solely into the carbohydrate and protein portions respectively of the mucoprotein molecules. 3. Of the radioactive mucoprotein 22% was water-soluble and up to 80% of the remainder was soluble in other solvents. 4. Pronase was the most successful proteolytic enzyme tested for making the mucoprotein water-soluble, up to 94% dissolving after digestion. 5. The Pronase digestion products of the mucoproteins were separated from protein by equilibrium-density-gradient centrifugation in a CsCl gradient. 6. These Pronase-digested mucoproteins were further fractionated on Sepharose 4B and the isolated fractions analysed by chemical and sedimentation-velocity methods. 7. Pronase digestion and solvent extraction of mucosal scrapings labelled with (14)C in the carbohydrate and (3)H in the protein showed that one type of mucoprotein was the only non-diffusible biosynthetic product of the scrapings in vitro, and that this mucoprotein was the only mucoprotein constituent of the water-soluble and water-insoluble mucus.