Tryptic action across a membrane.

Abstract

Tryptic action occurs when a layer of bovine serum albumin adsorbed on a nickel-plated slide and protected by a Formvar membrane 120 A thick is treated with dilute trypsin solution. But experimental evidence indicates that the trypsin molecules to not cross the membrane. Thus the proposal that trypsin can exert its enzymatic action without intimate contact with the substrate, first set forth in 1948 but later abandoned in favor of a "forced diffusion" hypothesis, now appears the correct interpretation. Analogously, antibodies can be specifically immobilized on one side of a membrane separating them from adsorbed antigens located on the other side.