Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means itโ€™s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure youโ€™re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 1987;52(5):268-72.
doi: 10.1159/000242719.

Gastric proteases in the human infant

Affiliations
Comparative Study

Gastric proteases in the human infant

M J Henschel et al. Biol Neonate. 1987.

Abstract

The electrophoretic mobilities of proteases present in gastric juice taken within 10 h of birth from 5 healthy, premature infants were compared with calf chymosin, pig pepsin A and human adult gastric juice. The juice from 2 infants contained predominantly a chymosin-like enzyme, another had almost exclusively pepsins similar to those of the adult juice, while the other two contained a mixture of both. The pepsins consisted of two elements, probably pepsin A (EC 3.4.23.1), and pepsin C (EC 3.4.23.3). Single radial immunodiffusion gave a definite reaction to calf anti-chymosin serum in five samples taken from a further 17 infants. These results indicate that some human infants secrete chymosin. The reaction in the immunodiffusion assay indicated a much lower enzyme activity than that implied from electrophoretic separations. It is suggested that species differences resulted in poor cross-reactivity of the antiserum.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types