Demonstration of Production and Isolation of Three Sulfated Glycoproteins from the Rabbit Oviduct

[35S] sulfate-labeled oviductal fluid and [35S] sulfate-labeled extracts of cultured oviductal epithelium were obtained from rabbit. Fractionations by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography indicated both of these sources contained 3 high molecular weight (greater than 200,00 daltons) sulfated mucoproteins, SDS electrophoresis indicated subunits of 71,000 daltons and 32,000 daltons, where only the 71,000 dalton component was sulfated. Ouchterlony analysis indicated complete homology between these oviductal components separated by DEAE chromatography and partial cross-reactivity with a component(s) present in blood plasma. This suggests that cross-reactivity with serum may have masked previous results where investigators were seeking oviduct-specific components, a problem which is overcome in these experiments by use of the oviductal epithelium incubations.