Studies in immunochemistry. 23. Some observations on the heterogeneity of preparations of human blood-group-specific substances

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Abstract
The behavior on columns of DEAE-cellulose of blood-group-specific mucopolysaccharides obtained from human ovarian-cyst fluids, and purified by the methods described, was investigated. Some preparations were not resolved into more than one component, whereas others were readily fractionated into several materials. The heterogeneity of the specific substances was sometimes caused by the presence of a material that contained a greater amount of aspartic acid, glutamic acid and of cystine than was found in the majority of purified blood-group mucopolysaccharides. Other preparations having an apparently normal amino acid composition were heterogeneous with respect to the content of sialic acid in individual molecules in the preparation. Some preparations were heterogeneous for both these types of variation. Possible reasons for the increased amounts of aspartic acid, glutamic acid and cystine, or the variability in the sialic acid content of the mucopolysaccharide preparations examined, or both, are briefly discussed.