Distribution and chromatographic characterisation of gastrin and cholecystokinin in the rat central nervous system.

Two tissue extraction techniques and two radioimmunoassays were used to study the distribution of gastrin and cholecystokinin in rat brain. Small amounts of gastrin were found in extracts of neurohypophysis, but in neither ice-cold 90% methanol nor in boiling water-acetic acid extracts of the other 33 brain areas studied. Cholecystokinin was found in equivalent amounts in both types of extract of 31 areas. The distribution was similar to that in previous studies. The components of cholecystokinin immunoreactivity were characterised in 10 rat CNS tissues using four tissue extraction methods in conjunction with gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography. The results demonstrated that gastrins were present only in the neurohypophysis and that in all other rat CNS tissues the main molecular component was indistinguishable from the sulphated octapeptide of cholecystokinin. Minor immunoreactive components were observed in all types of extract of all tissues with the properties of the desulphated octapeptide and the C-terminal tetrapeptide amide, suggesting they are genuine tissue components, not extraction artefacts. Large molecular forms of cholecystokinin were not detected in any tissue. The results emphasise the necessity of using two or more extraction methods and two or more chromatography systems in such a study.