KINETICS OF THE FORMATION OF PEPSIN FROM SWINE PEPSINOGEN AND IDENTIFICATION OF AN INTERMEDIATE COMPOUND

A study of the kinetics of the transformation of swine pepsinogen into pepsin under a variety of conditions has been made. The results show that the transformation as a whole is essentially autocatalytic in nature under all conditions. Evidence is presented to show the existence of a compound intermediate between pepsinogen and pepsin. This compound was found to be a reversibly dissociable complex of pepsin and a low molecular weight inhibitor. Some of the general properties of the intermediate compound and of the inhibitor have been examined.