NEW MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES AGAINST GASTRIC GLAND MUCOUS CELL-TYPE MUCINS - A COMPARATIVE IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY

The immunohistochemical reactivity of monoclonal antibodies raised aga inst rat and pig gastric mucins (HIK1083, PGM36, and PGM37) was invest igated in normal gastrointestinal tracts obtained from fish, amphibian s, reptiles, birds, and mammals (including humans). These monoclonal a ntibodies exhibited highly selective reactivity with class III mucins, as identified by paradoxical concanavalin A stain, in the gastrointes tinal tract of vertebrates. All three monoclonal antibodies reacted wi th the mucous neck cells and pyloric gland cells of amphibians, reptil es and mammals, the cardiac glands of reptiles and mammals, and Brunne r's glands of mammls. The deep crypt secretory cells of the rat colon and certain goblet-type cells deep in crypts in the pig colon differed from the above pattern only in that they did not show immunoreactivit y with monoclonal antibody PGM36. These data suggest that the developm ent of class III mucin is a fundamental evolutionary characteristic of vertebrate gastric mucins. These monoclonal antibodies should prove u seful for the investigation of cell differentiation among gastrointest inal mucous cells and for the biochemical analysis of gastrointestinal mucins in different species.