ALTERATION OF HISTONES FROM MOUSE EPIDERMAL CELLS AFTER INCUBATION WITH ELASTASE AND HYALURONIDASE

Chromatin was isolated from whole mouse skin, mouse epidermal cells and mouse liver by standard procedures used for isolation of chromatin from other mammalian tissues. Chromatin from whole mouse skin or from mouse epidermal cells had not been isolated or characterized earlier. For the preparation of chromatin from mouse epidermal cells, the latter was separated from dermis by incubation for 30 min at 37°C in a solution containing the enzymes elastase and hyaluronidase. The relative proportions of the chromatin components, the T m and the ultraviolet absorption spectrum were all similar to that of chromatin from whole mouse skin which was not treated with enzymes and to other mammalian chromatin preparations. Electrophoresis of the histones from epidermal chromatin in polyacrylamide gels revealed the absence of histones F1, F3 and F2a 2 and the appearance of a new band. Histones isolated from chromatin prepared from the whole mouse skin had a gel electrophoresis pattern virtually identical with histones isolated from mouse liver chromatin and to reported histone patterns from other mammalian tissues. The alterations in mouse epidermal histones are similar to reported changes in histones from calf thymus nucleohistone previously subjected to incubation at various temperatures. The enzymatic incubation technique can therefore not be used as a method of isolating unaltered mouse epidermal chromatin. The findings illustrate that very subtle chemical alterations can be induced by usual methods of tissue preparation and that these changes can only be detected by highly sensitive analytical techniques.