Rapid, small-scale preparation of gastrointestinal hormones by high-performance liquid chromatography on a C18 column.

A rapid reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed for the isolation of small quantities of biologically active gastrointestinal hormones, using a Varian MCH-10 C18 column. Biologically active secretin was isolated from contamination with other hormones, including cholecystokinin, gastrin, motilin, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, from samples of the acid perfusate of canine duodenum and from the crude acetic acid extract of canine antral mucosa containing less than 100 picomoles of secretin. The method also appeared to be suitable for the isolation of cholecystokinin octapeptide and motilin.