Peptides in rat brain immunoreactive for the amino terminus of cholecystokinin 33: distribution and chromatography

Antisera directed against the amino-terminus of porcine CCK 33 detects related immunoreactivity in rat brain extracts, the distribution of which follows that of CCK 8. Sephadex chromatography indicates that several immunoreactive peptides are present with a molecular weight range of 2600-3500. These peptides are likely to be CCK 39 or CCK 33 and the amino terminal segments of CCK 39/33 without the CCK 8 sequence. The presence of CCK 39/33 and its amino-terminal fragments without CCK 22 and its amino-terminal fragments confirms the absence of CCK 22 in the rat brain. This cleavage at CCK 22 is one of the major differences between the processing of CCK in rat brain and gut and may reflect differences in their physiological roles.