Abstract
The present investigation was performed to purify bombesin-like immunoreactivity (BBS-LI) from the skin of frogs, B. orientalis inhabiting Korea. For extraction of BBS-LI, the fresh skin of 360 g from frogs was immersed in 1,800 ml of 100% methanol and then kept at $4^{\circ}C$ for 5 days. BBS-LI was partially purified by liquid chromatography using an alkaline alumina column followed by a Sephadex G-10 column. BBS-LI was further purified by using sequential HPLC of reversed phase C18 preparation, gel permeation, SP-ion exchange and reversed phase C18 analysis. BBS-LI in fractions of each step was monitored by radioimmunoassay for which bombesin antiserum with a titer of 1 : 188,800 was raised in a guinea pig. Eventually, two different BBS-LI were successfully purified and each BBS-LI showed the following character. 1) BBS-LI was well separated into two peaks in SP-ion exchange HPLC. One (BBS-LI-K1) bound to the column while the other (BBS-LI-K2) did not. 2) BBS-LI-K1, 73.8% of total BBS-LI, was not differentiated from synthetic bombesin in reversed phase C18 analytical and gel permeation HPLC. 3) BBS-LI-K2, 26.2% of total BBS-LI, eluted later than synthetic bombesin in reversed phase C18 analytical HPLC, but it eluted with a retention time identical to that of synthetic bombesin in gel permeation HPLC. 4) The two forms of BBS-LI and synthetic bombesin identically stimulated gastrin release and pancreatic exocrine secretion including volume, protein output and amylase output in anesthetized rats. It is concluded from the above results that the skin of B. orientalis contains two different forms of BBS-LI which are very identical to bombesin immunologically and biologically. In comparison with synthetic bombesin containing 14 amino acid residues, the major form shows quite similar pattern in all HPLC used in the present study, but the minor form exhibits quite different pattern in SP-ion exchange and reversed phase C18 analytical HPLG.