Electrophoretic separation of serum acid phosphatase isoenzymes in Gaucher's disease, prostatic carcinoma and multiple myeloma

The acid phosphatases of bovine leucocytes, plasma and the milk of healthy and mastitic cows

Some of the acid phosphatase isozymes of bovine leucocytes and plasma have been separated and partly characterized. About 80% of the phosphatase activity of leucocytes at pH 4·9 was particle-bound and about 8% was extractable with Amberlite CG-50 ion exchange resin. This extractable enzyme existed as a single electrophoretic component with a mol. wt of about 42000 and with optimum activity at pH 5·8. Km for p-nitrophenyl phosphate was 1·6 mM at pH 5·8 and 0·4 mM at pH 4·9. At pH 5·8 orthophosphate (K1 = 1·5 mM) and pyrophosphate (Ki = 4·1 mM) were competitive inhibitors. The enzyme was also strongly inhibited by F−, Al3+, IO4− and S2032−. The enzyme which was not extractable with Amberlite was very heterogeneous with respect to molecular weight. At the pH optimum (4·9), Km for p-nitrophenyl phosphate was 0·4 mM and orthophosphate (K1 = 2·3 mM) and pyrophosphate (K1 = 2·1 mM) were competitive inhibitors. Other inhibitors included F−, Al3+, Hg2+, IO4− and tartrate. The enzyme extracted from plasma by Amberlite CG-50 treatment had properties similar to that extracted from leucocytes. Normal bovine milk contained a single acid phosphatase, but milk from cows with mastitis showed 3 electrophoretic isozyme bands, one being the same as in normal milk; the 2 additional bands were of leucocyte origin.

Abnormal acid phosphatases in neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinoses

Acid phosphatases in brain and cultured lymphoblasts from patients affected with neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinoses (NCL) were studied by starch gel electrophoresis. After electrophoresis the gel was incubated with 4-methyl umbelliferyl phosphate at pH 4.5 and the fluorescent reaction product was visualized under ultraviolet light. Control brain showed a single band with mobility of about 1 cm while NCL patients showed two additional fast moving bands. In the late-infantile, and in the adult form (Kufs disease), the middle band was prominent while the fast moving band was predominant in juvenile NCL. In long-term lymphoblasts, controls showed a single band of acid phosphatase activity while both juvenile and late-infantile NCL showed two additional fast moving bands. Obligate heterozygotes showed reduced levels of the fast moving bands. Fluorometric assay of acid phosphatase using 4-methylumbelliferyl phosphate as substrate showed a 2-fold increase in activity in the patients. The increased acid phosphatase activity is completely inhibited by tartrate. Lymphocyte hexosamnidase activities were unchanged in NCL patients lymphoblasts. Studies on brains of NCL patients and on cultured lymphoblasts from families with late-infantile and juvenile form of NCL showed that abnormal acid phosphatase is characteristic of NCL.