Studies in immunochemistry. 8. The isolation and properties of the human blood-group A substance

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Abstract
Methods for the isolation and purification of the the human blood-group A substance from pseudomucinous ovarian cyst fluids are descr. The A substance is a dextrorotatory mucoid or poly-saccharide-amino acid complex. The material, which is poly-disperse, is essentially homogeneous with respect to chemical, immunochemical and serol. properties. The acid hydrolysis products contain 57% reducing substances, expressed as glucose, and 37% hexosamine. The alpha-amino-acid N represents about 38%, and the alpha-amino N, 91%, of the total N (5.7%). From the analytical results it would appear that the simplest unit of the carbohydrate moiety of the A substance contains 1 fucose, 1 galac-tose and 2 N-acetylhexosamine residues, and that there are about 280 such units in the molecule of A substance. The significance of certain changes in the properties of the A substance which are associated with degradation is discussed.