Guinea pig 33-amino acid gastrin.

Only two 34 amino acid gastrin precursors have previously been purified and sequenced, those of pig and of human. The larger molecular form generally accounts for only about 5% of antral gastrin in most species. This report describes the purification of "big gastrin" from guinea pig (GP) antra. Two hundred grams of antra were defatted with acetone and the acetone cakes were extracted with 0.1M NH4HCO3. The extract was concentrated by adsorption onto and batch elution from QA-52 anion exchange cellulose. Fractionation on a mu Bondapak C18 cartridge resolved 3.6 nmol of the larger peptide from 61 nmol of immunoreactive gastrin in the original extract. Two additional HPLC steps brought the peptide to final purity. GP big gastrin is a 33 amino acid peptide with the following sequence: less than ELGPQVPAHLRTDLSKKQGPWAEEEAAYGWMDF# The GP peptide is different from pig G34 in 6 of the 17 NH2-terminal amino acids as well as in the previously reported deletion of a glutamic acid in the COOH-terminus.