Acid mucopolysaccharides (A-MPS) in the gastric wall of rats were measured by the carbazole method and electrophoresis using two buffers, Ca and Ba acetate. A new method of calculating percentage fractions of A-MPS, i.e. hyarulonic acid (HA), heparitin sulfate (HS), chondroitin sulfate B (ChS-B) and chondroitin sulfate A-k-C (ChS-A+C), by analizing the differences in the bands obtained from two electrophoresis, was devised.
Using these methods, changes in the A-MPS of the gastric wall during the course of clamping and clamping-cortisone ulcer were observed. The content of the uronic acid measured by the carbazole method was 56.9μg per 100 mg dry weight of the stomach wall in normal rats. The content of total uronic acid increased 2.5 times in the gastric wall at the 1st week and decreased to the normal level at the 3rd week after the clamping ulcer was made. However, in the C-C ulcer, the increase of the acid was only 1.6 times that of the normal stomach at the 1st week and returned to the normal level at the 3rd week.
This fact seems to show that cortisone suppressed a reactive increase of A-MPS in the early stages of the healing of the ulcer and resulted in a delay of healing.
By measuring the uronic acid separately in the ulcerated portion and non-ulcerated portions, it was found that the acid content was 1.5 times greater in the ulcerated portion than that of the non-ulcerated portion, in the C-ulcer. However, in the C-C ulcer, no difference between the two portions were observed. The percentage fraction of ChS-B increased 2.3 times at the 1st week in the C-ulcer, but not in the C-C ulcer.
The percentage fraction of ChS-B increased remarkably 3.7 times that of the normal level and the other fractions of the A-MPS except HS decreased at the 3rd week. In the C-C ulcer, the percentage fraction of ChS-B increased 5.0 times and all the fractions decreased at the same time. The increase of the ChS-B fraction seemed to be attributed to the increase of the connective tissue in the base of the ulcer.
View full abstract