Chemical properties of two mucoids from bovine cervical mucin

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Abstract
A method for the isolation of undegraded mucoid from bovine cervical mucin is described. Two samples of mucoid, one isolated from mucin obtained at estrus and the other from pregnancy mucin, are shown to be largely free from known contaminants in the crude secretion, and to be the materials chiefly responsible for the physical properties of the native mucin. The mucoids were found to consist of 75-80% of carbohydrate and 20-25% of amino acid residues, and to behave chemically in a manner similar to the human blood-group substances. Fucose, galactose, glucosamine, galactosamine, sialic acid, threonine, serine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, lysine and arginine were identified chromatographically in both mucoids and estimated. The sialic acid content of the pregnancy mucoid (17.5%) is higher than that of the estrous mucoid (14%). The results of hydrolysis of estrous mucoid in 0.1N_HC1 at 20[degree] suggest that part of the sialic acid is present as end group and that the sialic acid content is one of the factors affecting the physical properties of mucin.