Guinea pig gastric mucosa and juice contained exceptionally high phospholipase-A, activity, whereas the activity in the pancreas was only minimal. Phospholipases A, were purified to homogeneity from these three tissues. Structural evidence, including the sequence of the NH,-tenninal41 residues, the amino-acid composition and the molecular mass (1 3 902 % 3 Da) determined accurately by mass spectrometry, showed that the gastric mucosa enzyme belongs to the pancreatic type. An unique feature of the sequence is the substitution of Phe for the hitherto invariant Tyr28 in the calcium-binding loop of pancreatic phospholipases A,. The affinity of the guinea pig enzyme for Ca2+ in the presence of substrate was, however, identical to that of the rat enzyme with Tyr28, suggesting the interaction of a phenolic hydroxyl group of the Tyr with its neighboring residues is not significantly linked to the binding of Ca". The NH,-terminal sequences and immunochemical properties of the enzymes purified from the gastric juice and pancreas were identical to those of the gastric mucosa enzyme. The distribution of cells immunoreactive with anti-(gastric PLA , ) immuno-' globulin in the stomach was quite similar to that of the chief cells. Unlike in pancreas of other animals, the prophospholipase A, was not detectable in gastric mucosa or juice homogenates treated with diisopropyl fluorophosphate or in column effluents during purification under acidic conditions. An appreciable prophospholipase-A,-activating activity was not detectable in gastric mucosa extracts at low pH relevant to gastric juice, using rat prophospholipase A, as substrate. This opposes the activation of secreted proenzyme in the gastric juice.Phospholipase A, (PLA,) catalyzes the hydrolysis of fatty-acyl ester bond at the sn-2 position of glycerophospholipids and produces free fatty acids and lysophospholipids. Pancreatic PLA2 has been purified to homogeneity from pancreas of several animal species and its physicochemical properties and reaction mechanism have been extensively studied as a typical lipolytic enzyme [l]. It has been believed to be the major enzyme for digesting dietary and biliary glycerophospholipids in the small intestine, since the intestinal absorption of phospholipids requires their prior hydrolyses to lysophospholipids [2, 31. Fauvel et al., however, presented evidence for the lack of this important enzyme in guinea pig pancreas and proposed the compensatory action of basic lipases with high phospholipase-A, activity on intestinal phospholipid digestion [41.Correspondence to H.