Enzyme alterations and lipid storage in three variants of Tay-Sachs disease

Separation and properties of human brain hexosaminidase C

Hexosaminidase C was separated from human brain supernatant by immunoadsorption of the A and B forms on to a column of immobilized antibody followed by preparative starch-block electrophoresis. There were some differences in the properties of hexosaminidase C preparations after each of these stages, shown by comparison of their heat-inactivation characteristics and filtration through Bio-Gel P-200. The C form prepared by both separation steps had properties which differed markedly from those of the A and B isoenzymes; its molecular weight was much larger, greater than 200000, it had optimum activity between pH6 and 7 and could not be successfully eluted from DEAE-cellulose, even with high salt concentrations, or from Sephadex G-200. These results seem to support the proposal that the C form is under a separate genetic control from the others.

Human beta-D-N-acetylhexosaminidases A and B: expression and linkage relationships in somatic cell hybrids

Knowledge of the genetic relationships between beta-D-N-acetylhexosaminidases A and B (EC 3.2.1.30) may help in understanding the hexosaminidase deficiency associated with GM(2) gangliosidosis, a fatal lipid storage disease in man. Through the use of man-mouse somatic cell hybrids we have found that a gene involved in hexosaminidase A expression was linked to the genes coding for mannosephosphate isomerase and pyruvate kinase-3. The gene coding for hexosaminidase B was not linked to any of the genes coding for 25 enzyme markers tested. A combination of immunological and electrophoretic techniques was employed to identify human hexosaminidases A and B with certainty in cell hybrids. Discordant segregation of hexosaminidase A and hexosaminidase B in 60 clones indicated that the genes coding for their expression were not linked. However, hexosaminidase A was never expressed in cell hybrids in the absence of hexosaminidase B. This suggests that the gene responsible for the hexosaminidase A phenotype, linked to mannosephosphate isomerase and pyruvate kinase-3, requires the presence of the gene coding for hexosaminidase B for the expression of hexosaminidase A. These observations offer a genetic explanation for the biochemical and immunological relationships between hexosaminidases A and B and provide the framework for identifying the basic genetic defects responsible for GM(2) gangliosidosis.

Neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis, a type of amaurotic family idiocy. Clinical and pathological study of four cases

Neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis (NCL) is a recent term, proposed for acurate designation of the late-onset types of Amaurotic Family Idiocy (AFI). Histopathology shows ubiquitous intraneuronal accumulation of lipopigments, being the most important factor for characterization of the entity at present time. Biochemical changes and pathogenesis are obscure. NCL is in contrast to the infantile type of AFI (Tay-Sachs disease), in which intraneuronal accumulation of gangliosides (sphingolipids) is due to the well known deficiency of a lysosomal enzyme. The authors report on four cases of NCL, two brothers of the late infantile (Jansky-Bielschowsky) type and a brother and a sister of the juvenile (Spielmeyer-Sjögren) type. One autopsy and three cortical biopsies revealed moderate to severe distention of the neurons by lipopigment, with nerve cell loss, gliosis and cerebral atrophy. Lipopigment was also increased in liver, heart and spleen. The patients were the first in Brazilian literature in whom the storage material was identified as lipopigment by histochemical methods. A brief summary of the clinical features of NCL is presented, and relevant problems are discussed, concerning interpretation of the nature of the storage material, and significance of the disease for gerontological research.

N-acetyl-beta-hexosaminidase: role in the degradation of glycosaminoglycans

Extracts of cultured normal human skin fibroblasts released radioactivity from a (14)C-labeled heptasaccharide prepared by addition of [(14)C]N-acetylgalactosamine to the nonreducing terminus of a hexasaccharide derived from chondroitin 4-sulfate whereas fibroblast extracts from patients with Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff-Jatzkewitz diseases did not. The results suggest that N-acetyl-beta-hexosaminidase A is responsible for degradation of the oligosaccharide substrate.

Immunological properties of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase of normal human liver and of GM2-gangliosidosis liver

Antisera were raised to a partially purified preparation of human liver hexosaminidase and to highly purified preparations of hexosaminidase isoenzymes A and B. All the antisera precipitated the enzyme in an enzymically active form, which could be located on immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoretic gels by using a histochemical substrate. The antisera to the purified isoenzymes were shown to react with hexosaminidase from human liver, kidney, brain and spleen, but did not cross-react with human liver beta-glucosidase, beta-galactosidase, alpha-mannosidase, beta-xylosidase, arylsulphatase or acid phosphatase. Hexosaminidases A and B were immunologically identical. The immunological properties of the hexosaminidases from livers of patients with three types of GM(2)-gangliosidoses were closely similar. No evidence could be found for cross-reacting material in enzyme-deficient states.

The metabolism of Tay-Sachs ganglioside: catabolic studies with lysosomal enzymes from normal and Tay-Sachs brain tissue

The catabolism of Tay-Sachs ganglioside, N-acetylgalactosaminyl- (N-acetylneuraminosyl) -galactosylglucosylceramide, has been studied in lysosomal preparations from normal human brain and brain obtained at biopsy from Tay-Sachs patients. Utilizing Tay-Sachs ganglioside labeled with (14)C in the N-acetylgalactosaminyl portion or (3)H in the N-acetylneuraminosyl portion, the catabolism of Tay-Sachs ganglioside may be initiated by either the removal of the molecule of N-acetylgalactosamine or N-acetylneuraminic acid. The activity of the N-acetylgalactosamine-cleaving enzyme (hexosaminidase) is drastically diminished in such preparations from Tay-Sachs brain whereas the activity of the N-acetylneuraminic acid-cleaving enzyme (neuraminidase) is at a normal level. Total hexosaminidase activity as measured with an artificial fluorogenic substrate is increased in tissues obtained from patients with the B variant form of Tay-Sachs disease and it is virtually absent in the O-variant patients. The addition of purified neuraminidase and various purified hexosaminidases exerted only a minimal synergistic effect on the hydrolysis of Tay-Sachs ganglioside in the lysosomal preparations from the control or patient with the O variant of Tay-Sachs disease.