Keratin pattern in human and buccal and hard palate mucosa

As a preliminary study the keratin proteins of human oral stratified epithelia from buccal mucosa and hard palate were investigated using SDS-PAGE technique. The keratinized hard palate consistently showed six polypeptides varying in molecular weight from 47 to 67 k daltons, whereas the nonkeratinized buccal epithelium lacked the larger polypeptides and showed three polypeptides with molecular weight from 50 to 56 k daltons. The individual variations in the SDS-gel pattern from eight clinically normal individuals were restricted to minor quantitative differences.