[A method for determining the strength of the disulphide bonds of glycoproteins from gastric mucus]

The author describes a simple and highly informative method for the assessment of disulfide bonds of gastric mucus glycoproteins, based on studies of the mucus rheology before and after incubation with 5% unithiol for an hour at 37 degrees C. Such an exposure was found to induce in normal subjects just a slight reduction of viscous elastic characteristics of the mucus (under 30% of the initial values), whereas in patients with duodenal ulcer this reduction was marked: in 83 +/- 7% of patients the rheologic characteristics dropped by more than 30%, in 1/3 of the patients the mucous gel was found completely dissolved. Such an effect was observed both in the patients with the initially reduced and with normal rheologic parameters of gastric mucus.