Immuno-chemical and electrophoretic studies on enzymatic degradation of ovalbumin

Abstract

We have studied the modifications experimentcd by the substrate, after degradation by various proteolitic enzymes (pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, B. sichtilis1 protease) on different proteolysis conditions.

The various producís of dégradation thus obtained have been studied by electrophoresis in gelose, immunoelectrophoresis and specific precipitation with antiovoalbumine serum. The natural ovoalbumine is hydrolized by all the enzymes studied, even trypsin and chymotrypsin, on condition high quantities of enzyme are used.

The trypsin and chymotrypsin produce the cleavage of the antigenic substance in two different components, while pepsin does not. None of the enzymes studied produce great intermediary fragments between the initial molecules and the final producís.

This paper shows the interest of utilising these methods in the study of enzymatic dégradation of proteins, as they allow the verifications, which the clasic methods do not allways show, principally the antigenic proprieties modifications.