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THE QUANTITATIVE HISTOCHEMISTRY OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PLAQUES: ACID PROTEINASE AND OTHER ACID HYDROLASES 1
Author(s) -
Hirsch Hilde E.,
Duquette P.,
Parks Mary Ellen
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1976.tb01503.x
Subject(s) - white matter , acid phosphatase , gliosis , pathology , chemistry , multiple sclerosis , alkaline phosphatase , esterase , enzyme , biology , biochemistry , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , immunology , radiology
— Sensitive micromethods were used to study the plaques, adjacent white matter and remote, grossly normal white matter from two cases of multiple sclerosis and to compare them with white matter from normal controls. Lipid‐free dry wt/unit of volume was found to be similar for plaques and for normal white matter, reflecting a high water content of plaque tissue and establishing a base for comparison of enzyme activities. Elevations of acid proteinase in and around plaques were confirmed, but they were far exceeded by the increases in acid phosphatase; other acid hydrolases (β‐galactosidase, β‐glucuronidase and dipeptidyl arylamidase II) showed no significant or consistent changes. However, an acid lipase‐esterase hydrolysing 4‐methylumbelliferyl oleate was about 30% as active in plaques as in normal‐appearing white matter. Glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase was unchanged except in one plaque, but lactic dehydrogenase was markedly elevated both in plaques and adjacent white matter. The grossly normal white matter of MS patients, although histologically far from normal (showing gliosis, perivascular infiltrations and small plaques), did not differ significantly from controls with regard to the activity of any of the enzymes studied. DNA levels were much reduced in plaques, but comparisons were difficult because of the apparent gliosis in normal white matter. Decreases in dry wt/unit vol, reflecting partial demyelination, could be shown to extend in a gradient to a distance of about 2 mm. from the edge of certain plaques.