Expression of acidic glycosphingolipids and arylsulphatase A activity in human pathological endometrium

Biochemical determinations of arylsulphatase A activity and sulphatide concentrations in decidua of women at 41 and 42 weeks of gestation

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate arylsulphatase A activity and sulphatide concentrations in decidua of women at 41 and 42 weeks of gestation.

STUDY DESIGN

Enzyme activity and sulphatide concentrations were determined by biochemical procedures on samples of women at 41 and 42 weeks of gestation; thin-layer chromatography was also prepared to separate and visualize sulphatides and other lipid fractions.

RESULTS

The spectrophotometric values of arylsulphatase A showed very low values at 41 weeks, which reduced to a half at 42 weeks of gestation, while values of sulphatide concentrations increased in 42 weeks.

CONCLUSIONS

The behavior of two parameters examined could be due to the amount of placental estriol reduction, because of sudden placental aging.

Sulfatides and arylsulfatase A activity in major salivary glands of hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) after adenocarcinoma induction in oral cavity

A biochemical study of sulfatides and arylsulfatase A (ASA) was carried out in the submandibular and sublingual glands of the male and female hamster Mesocricetus auratus after experimental induction of oral adenocarcinoma by 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA). Hamster experimental groups included control animals, animals treated with beta-carotene, animals treated with DMBA, and animals treated with DMBA plus beta-carotene. Oral cavity treatment with DMBA induced carcinogenesis in the buccal mucosa, but not in the major salivary glands, where nevertheless, the morphology and expression of both parameters examined changed. In fact, sulfatide concentrations and enzyme activity increased significantly, while in control and beta-carotene-treated hamsters they were similar in both glands and sexes. After administration of DMBA plus beta-carotene, sulfatide concentration decreased, as did ASA activity, slightly in the submandibular gland and remarkably so in the sublingual one of female hamsters. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) analysis of lipid patterns, after DMBA treatment, revealed considerable differences, not only in sulfatides, but also in other lipid fractions, as well as between the two glands and two sexes. These findings show that oral cavity treatment with DMBA is not able to induce carcinogenesis in the major salivary glands examined; however, it does cause considerable metabolic changes.

Evaluation of leukocyte arylsulfatase-A activity in patients with breast cancer and benign breast disease

This study was planned to evaluate the feasibility of using the assay of leukocyte arylsulfatase-A (AS-A) activity as a non-invasive diagnostic tool in patients with benign and malignant breast disease. The leukocyte AS-A activity of a total of 81 women was analyzed, including 28 healthy women, 29 women with benign breast disease (BBD) and 24 patients with primary breast cancer (BC). The mean leukocyte AS-A activity in patients with BBD was slightly higher (14.3%) that observed in the healthy subjects, but the difference was not statistically significant. In patients with BC the enzyme activity was significantly higher than in the healthy subjects (60.3%, P<0.05) and in the benign group (40.2%, P<0.05). In addition, since no significant differences have been observed between premenopausal patients and their controls, it is suggested that the measurement of leukocyte AS-A activity may not be a reliable test for differential diagnosis of benign and malignant proliferation in mammary glands due to the possible interfering effect of gonadal hormones on AS-A activity. In contrast, since peri- and postmenopausal BC patients have negligible or no gonadal activity function, the elevation in the activity of leukocyte AS-A in these age groups of patients may only be expected to originate from malignant proliferation. Based on our results, it is concluded that in patients in whom high leukocyte AS-A activities were observed the possibility of the presence of malignancy might also be high. Therefore, this test might be valuable as a non-invasive biochemical technique in combination with other established markers for the identification of masses in the breast.