Characterization of antral gastrin cells with region-specific antisera.

A number of gastrin antisera, which in radioimmunoassay systems showed no or negligible cross-reactivity towards the structurally and functionally related peptide cholecystokinin were found to react with both gastrin and cholecystokinin cells when used for immunocytochemistry. This discrepancy was shown to be due either to reactivity against a COOH-terminal region common to gastrin and cholecystokinin or to the occurrence of heterogenous antibody populations in the antisera. By differential absorptions the latter type of antisera could be rendered specific for gastrin. Antisera reactive against the NH2-terminal, middle or COOH-terminal regions of human heptadecapeptide gastrin were prepared and together with a specific cholecystokinin antiserum used for the characterization of antral gastrin cells of different species. The results indicate that only the COOH-terminal region of gastrin is conserved during evolution.