Amniomucoids—a New Class of Hexosamine-rich Glycoproteins

Abstract

SEVERAL investigators have observed^1–3 that amniotic fluid contains specific components of a glycoprotein nature, which do not usually occur in human or animal sera and body fluids. In the course of the characterization of these compounds, we have succeeded in isolating mucoids from bovine and human amniotic fluid by phenol extraction and subsequent alcohol fractionation. Preliminary experiments have shown that the main amino-acids are threonine, serine and glutamic acid. Table 1 gives the carbohydrate analysis of the mucoid fractions from amniotic fluid.