LOCALIZATION OF ARYLSULPHATASE IN NEURONS

Abstract— Arylsulphatase activity, with 4‐methylumbelliferone sulphate as substrate, was measured by a quantitative histochemical method in individual anterior horn nerve cell bodies and adjacent neuropil of man and monkey; and in molecular and granular layers and subjacent white matter of cerebellum of monkey, rat and guinea pig. The activity was much higher in neuronal perikarya than in neuropil, and higher in the granular layer of cerebellum than in the molecular or white matter, thus resembling the distinctive distribution, reported in monkey, of three other lysosomal enzymes, β‐galactosidase, β‐glucuronidase and α‐naphthyl acid phosphatase. One exception was encountered: the white matter of guinea pig cerebellum had more arysulphatase activity than the granular layer. For comparison, other lysosomal enzymes also were measured in rat and guinea pig cerebellum; in these species, α‐naphthyl acid phosphatase distribution was found to differ from that of β‐galactosidase and arysulphatase, and from the pattern common to four lysosomal enzymes in the monkey. Copyright © 1969, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved