[Bio- and histochemical changes of tissue kallikrein in the rat stomach after water immersion-induced gastric ulcer].

The posterior stomach was isolated from each male Donryu rat and separated into two parts: the tunicae mucosa and submucosa and the tunicae muscularis and serosa. Active and inactive tissue kallikrein were measured using sandwich type enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (s-ELISA) and H-Pro-Phe-Arg-MCA to complement each other. Inactive tissue kallikrein was determined (1) by measuring total tissue kallikrein and active tissue kallikrein in trypsin-treated samples and trypsin-nontreated ones, respectively; and (2) by subtracting active tissue kallikrein from total tissue kallikrein. Although tissue kallikrein was not demonstrable in the tunicae muscularis and serosa, inactive tissue kallikrein in the tunicae mucosa and submucosa reached 79.6% with s-ELISA and 99.1% with H-Pro-Phe-Arg-MCA. Water-immersion stress significantly decreased total tissue kallikrein at Stage IV of ulcers compared with the control value (p less than 0.001 in both measuring methods). Immunohistochemical staining was made using the avidin-biotin-horseradish peroxidase complex method. Tissue kallikrein was proved to be diffusely present as the inactive type within the epithelial cells of the pits in the gastric mucosa of the normal rats. With the progress of ulcers, however, it disappeared from the cells and appeared in the intercellular space. At Stage IV, it began to disappear even from the intercellular space. Based on the previously proposed process of tissue kallikrein release into blood in man, a possible interpretation of the above findings is that inactive tissue kallikrein may serve to maintain the gastric mucosa in a normal state; and that it may be transformed into the active type with ulceration and eliminated in a form of complex with some protease inhibitor in the course of aggravation.