Chromogranins A and B have been suggested to play crucial roles in the sorting of vesicular matrix proteins into secretory vesicles during vesicle biogenesis. Chromogranin A (CGA), a high-capacity, low-affinity Ca(2+)-binding protein, is the major protein in the secretory vesicles, while chromogranin B (CGB) is present in the vesicle at a significantly lower concentration. Chromogranin B has not been purified in its native form so far, thus severely limiting detailed studies of this protein. In the present study, chromogranin B was purified to complete homogeneity in its native state from the secretory vesicle lysates of bovine adrenal chromaffin cells using several chromatographic and electrophoresis steps. Recently, several intravesicular matrix proteins including chromogranins A and B have been shown to interact with the vesicle membrane at the intravesicular pH of 5.5 and to be released at a near-physiological pH of 7.5. However, since the experiment was done with the total vesicle lysate proteins, it was not clear whether CGB bound to the vesicle membrane directly or not. Hence, the pH-dependent binding of CGB to the vesicle membrane was tested using purified CGB, and it was found that pure CGB directly bound to the vesicle membrane at the intravesicular pH of 5.5. However, unlike the vesicle membrane-bound CGA, which can be easily eluted by a change of pH in the elution buffer from 5.5 to 7.5, the change of pH from 5.5 to 7.5 was not enough to elute the vesicle membrane-bound CGB.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)