Cellular localization of pepsinogens by immunofluorescence in the gastrointestinal tracts from four species of fish

Abstract

Using antiserum against human pepsinogen I and pepsinogen II, we investigated the cellular localization of pepsinogens by immunofluorescence in the stomach and proximal intestine of four species offish (Ambloplites rupestris, Lepisosteus osseus, Lepomis gibbosus, and Perca flavescens). In each species, only the oxynticopeptic cells in the corpus of the stomach stained with antiserum against pepsinogens I and II. Fluorescent cells were absent in the surface epithelium of both the stomach and small intestine. The results indicate that the oxynticopeptic cells are the source of pepsinogen in fish and suggest that these cells contain two immunochemically distinct pepsinogens that share antigenic determinants with human pepsinogens I and II.