Electrophoretic variants of rat alpha-fetoprotein
Ehara, A.
Hokkaido Journal of Medical Science 66(5): 721-728
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0367-6102 PMID: 1720412 Document Number: 368492
It has been well documented that rat AFP is separated into two discrete fractions electrophoretically and by ion exchange chromatography and it is generally accepted that the two forms of AFP, "Slow" and "Fast" variants, have different charges and molecular sizes. In this paper, the molecular basis of electrophoretic variants of rat alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was studied. Carbohydrate-free rat AFP was electrophoretically homogeneous. Stepwise conversion of molecular sizes by deglycosylation with glycopeptidase F and the specific activities of the variants of which sugar chains were radiolabelled suggest that "Slow" and "Fast" variants have two and one sugar chains per molecule, respectively.