Newly synthesized cholecystokinin in subcellular fractions of the rat brain

The subcellular localization of in vivo synthesized cholecystokinin (CCK) in different parts of the rat brain was studied after intracisternal pulse injections of [35S]methionine. The rats were decapitated 1 h after the injection, and the brain was divided into cortex, hippocampus and remainder. Subcellular fractions were obtained according to Whittaker's method. De novo synthesized CCK in the crude mitochondrial-synaptosomal fraction, P2, and in the purified synaptosomal fraction was demonstrated by affinity chromatography, using antibodies specific for the COOH-terminal sequence of CCK. By subsequent gel chromatography two molecular forms of labelled CCK occurred, with elution constants, Kav, of 1.1 (corresponding to the COOH-terminal octapeptide) and of 1.40 (a component which may correspond to the COOH-terminal tetrapeptide amide, CCK-4). The findings support the idea that the small molecular forms are the transmitter forms of CCK.