Isolation of a large cholecystokinin precursor from canine brain

Cholecystokinin (CCK)-like immunoreactivity (CCK-LI) in a pool of 12 dog brains was extracted sequentially into boiling water and cold 2% trifluoroacetic acid. Gel filtration on Sephadex G-50 revealed three main molecular forms detected by a carboxyl-terminal antibody; one was eluted in the position of CCK-58 (58 amino acid residues long); a second, in the position of CCK-8; and a third, near the radioactive iodide marker. When the CCK-LI was purified by affinity chromatography using carboxyl-terminal CCK antibody followed by three steps of reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography, three components were isolated and characterized by sequence microanalysis. The smallest component was the pentapeptide common to gastrin and CCK. The second peak was eluted in the same region as synthetic CCK octapeptide, and sequence analysis showed that the chemical structure of this biologically active region of canine CCK is identical to that found in sheep and pig brains. The 22-residue amino-terminal sequence of brain CCK-58 was: Ala-Val-Gln-Lys-Val-Asp-Gly-Glu-Pro-Arg-Ala-His-Leu-Gly -Ala-Leu-leu-Ala-Arg-Tyr-Ile-Gln-, the same as the sequence found for canine intestinal CCK-58 from this pool of dogs. This is the same sequence others have reported for porcine brain CCK-58 lacking nine amino acid residues (CCK-58 desnonapeptide) except that the porcine peptide had a serine in position 9. The canine CCK amino-terminal sequence differed from the sequence Ala-Gln-Lys-Val-Asn-Ser previously reported for intestinal CCK-58 purified from another pool of dog tissue, but the rest of the residues identified were identical in the two peptides. CCK-58 may be a molecular precursor of the smaller forms of CCK in brain as well as in gut.