Characterization of amino acids and low-molecular-weight peptides bound to cytoplasmic granules from the posterior pituitary

Abstract

A number of peptides and amino acids, representing 30–40% of the total acid-extractable, ninhydrin-positive material of the tissue, were associated with cytoplasmic granules (sedimenting at 3 000 000 g-min after preliminary removal of "nuclei and debris") isolated from bovine posterior pituitary glands. Acetic acid (0.2 N) extracts of a purified neurosecretory granule fraction showed only slight differences in the pattern of peptides and amino acids from extracts of the total cell particulate fraction. Gel filtration of extracts on Sephadex G-25 yielded three major fractions: fraction I consisting of peptide material of molecular weights > 4000, fraction II of molecular weights averaging about 3000, and fraction III of molecular weights < 2000. Fraction III was further resolved by anion-exchange chromatography into 12 subfractions. Vasopressin and oxytocin were contained in subfractions 2 and 3, respectively. Each of these subfractions was in turn chromatographed on a cation-exchange resin and resolved into a total for fraction III of 22 major components: lysine, arginine, phenylalanine, ammonia, and 18 peptides. Three of the peptides contained only aspartic and glutamic acids in the ratios 8:1, 5:1, and 4:1. The sequences of four dipeptides were ascertained. Another peptide was not retarded by Dowex 50 and yielded glutamic acid upon acid hydrolysis. Still another peptide yielded tyrosine plus an unknown ninhydrin-positive component after hydrolysis. The amino acid compositions were determined for nine other peptides containing three to nine residues. Additional peptides in fraction III were detected in lesser or trace amounts. Isolated granule fractions from both bovine posterior pituitary and rat liver were dialyzed against isotonic sucrose or distilled water. The rate of loss of ninhydrin-positive material from the sample dialyzed against water indicated that a large proportion of the "free" amino acids and peptides of these tissues were contained within intracellular organelles.