The Proteins Of The Exocrine Pancreas

Abstract

This chapter discusses that enzymes are present for digesting alimentary products in the intestine. Pancreatic juice seems to have been created for the protein chemist's delight, since its proteins are biologically active, relatively simple, and endowed with unusual properties. It discusses that the study of pancreatic enzymes at the molecular level has been facilitated by two circumstances: (1) pancreatic juice and pancreas extracts are simpler than many other biological fluids; (2) most of their proteins have a relatively low molecular weight. The proteins behave well during fractionation procedures based on the molecular kinetics and some hope exists of determining their structures with the available techniques of protein chemistry. The enzymatic activity of pancreatic proteins may be regarded as an additional attraction and a help in tracing these proteins during purification and in demonstrating their homogeneity. The chapter also reviews that the presence in the pancreas acinar cells of cytoplasmic components and enzymes able to hydrolyze them requires some protective devices, which can be partly elucidated by the techniques of protein chemistry.