Purification and characterization of plasma T-kininogen from Wistar and brown Norway rats

A rapid and convenient three-step purification scheme has been developed for the purification of T-kininogen (alpha 1-cysteine proteinase inhibitor) from rat plasma. The purification process includes chromatography on hydroxyapatite, immunoaffinity chromatography and gel filtration. This procedure is applied to plasma from the brown Norway rat which is known to be deficient in high and low molecular weight kininogens. The method furnished large amounts of T-kininogen from turpentine-treated Wistar rats as well as from untreated and turpentine-treated deficient brown Norway rats. The amino acid and hexose content of the three T-kininogens has been determined. While the composition of the molecules isolated from both injured rats was similar, the neutral sugar content of T-kininogen purified from untreated brown Norway rats was lower and its amino acid composition showed slight differences. The three molecules have identical behaviour and similar physicochemical and immunological properties when analysed by SDS electrophoresis, isoelectrofocusing and two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis.