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Biomedical subjects

M J Karnovsky

Publications and source records attributed to M J Karnovsky.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

The distributions of some granule-associated enzymes in guinea-pig polymorphonuclear leucocytes.

1. Homogenates of guinea-pig polymorphonuclear leucocytes were separated by differential centrifugation into six particulate fractions and a soluble fraction. 2. The distributions in these fractions of protein, DNA, succinate dehydrogenase, beta-glucuronidase, peroxidase, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase (against p-nitrophenyl phosphate and beta-glycerophosphate), cathepsin, and catalase were compared. 3. Almost all of the DNA sedimented in the first two pellets, indicating that the nuclei were relatively intact. 4. The four hydrolases and peroxidase showed different distribution patterns, although these activities were previously reported to be localized mainly in the single ;granule' fraction isolated from leucocytes. 5. The particles containing peroxidase, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase all exhibited latency. Maximum activity for each enzyme was obtained at roughly similar concentrations of Triton X-100. 6. The acid phosphatase of these cells was distributed between two populations of particles that differed in both sedimentation characteristics and density. The acid phosphatase(s) of the two populations showed slightly different substrate specificities. This bimodal distribution was not an artifact of the procedure used to elicit the cells. 7. Catalase was recovered almost entirely in the soluble fraction and showed no latency in freshly prepared homogenates. No urate oxidase was detected. 8. We conclude that the ;granule' fraction of the polymorphonuclear leucocyte, as isolated by previous workers, contains at least three, probably more, populations of particles with different enzyme contents, and that these cells probably do not contain peroxisomes.

Acid Phosphatase↗

Cytochemical localization of endogenous peroxidase in thyroid follicular cells.

Endogenous peroxidase activity in rat thyroid follicular cells is demonstrated cytochemically. Following perfusion fixation of the thyroid gland, small blocks of tissue are incubated in a medium containing substrate for peroxidase, before being postfixed in osmium tetroxide, and processed for electron microscopy. Peroxidase activity is found in thyroid follicular cells in the following sites: (a) the perinuclear cisternae, (b) the cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum, (c) the inner few lamellae of the Golgi complex, (d) within vesicles, particularly those found apically, and (e) associated with the external surfaces of the microvilli that project apically from the cell into the colloid. In keeping with the radioautographic evidence of others and the postulated role of thyroid peroxidase in iodination, it is suggested that the microvillous apical cell border is the major site where iodination occurs. However, that apical vesicles also play a role in iodination cannot be excluded. The in vitro effect of cyanide, aminotriazole, and thiourea is also discussed.

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Glomerular permeability. Ultrastructural studies in experimental nephrosis using horseradish peroxidase as a tracer.

Wistar/Furth rats were made nephrotic by daily administration of amino-nucleoside of puromycin, and the ultrastructural localization of horseradish peroxidase (mol wt 40,000) in the renal glomerulus was studied from 1 min to 20 hr after intravenous injection of the tracer. In control rats, peroxidase permeated the endothelial fenestrae, the basement membrane, and the epithelial slits, and was present in tubular lumina. Nephrotic glomeruli showed relatively normal basement membranes, extensive fusion of foot processes with formation of "close" intercellular junctions, and large vacuoles and pockets in epithelial cells. On serial sections some of the epithelial vacuoles communicated on one side with the extracellular space overlying basement membrane, and on the other side with the urinary space. In nephrotic animals, peroxidase permeated the basement membrane and the close junctions, and was present in many of the vacuoles and pockets as early as 1 min after injection. Only small numbers of peroxidase-positive vacuoles remained in. epithelial cells 1 hr or more after injection of the tracer. It is suggested that the epithelial pockets and vacuoles form pathways across which leaking proteins can be transferred across the epithelium into the urinary space. Epithelial vacuoles may also be absorption droplets designed to "conserve" leaking proteins, but this function was not prominent in our experiments with peroxidase.

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Degranulation of leukocytes in chronic granulomatous disease.

Quantitative chemical analyses of the subcellular distribution patterns for acid and alkaline phosphatase, beta glucuronidase and peroxidase were obtained for human peripheral blood leukocytes of four patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). Five young adults with acute infections served as controls. The observations were made on fractions obtained by homogenization and centrifugation of leukocytes previously incubated with or without particles for ingestion. Distributions in resting CGD and normal cells were very similar for acid and alkaline phosphatase and peroxidase, but the proportion of beta glucuronidase in the granule fraction of CGD cells was depressed, with an increased proportion in the soluble fraction. Release of granule-bound enzymes during phagocytosis of a variety of particles was the same for CGD and control cells, except that release of beta glucuronidase was less marked in CGD cells. Total enzymatic activity of CGD cells for the hydrolases studied was normal. The data indicated that granular enzymes are released in a normal fashion in phagocytizing CGD cells. Supportive evidence of release of enzymes into the phagocytic vacuole of CGD cells was obtained by an electron microscopic study of myeloperoxidase.

Acid Phosphatase↗

Ultrastructural studies on the permeability of the mesothelium to horseradish peroxidase.

Peritoneal mesothelium was exposed for 2-60 min to solutions of horseradish peroxidase by incubation in vitro, or after intraperitoneal injection in vivo. Peroxidase was localized, with the electron microscope in the intercellular clefts of the mesothelium, often along their entire lengths, in vesicles adjoining or contiguous with the clefts, and along the peritoneal and basal surfaces of the cell, and also in intracytoplasmic vacuoles. The intercellular junctions of peroxidase-treated mesothelium did not differ from those of controls: open and closed junctions were present in both groups. Intercellular localization was also obtained when the mesothelium was exposed to peroxidase during or after fixation. Although intracellular absorption of peroxidase and its incorporation into larger vacuoles were observed, there was no clearcut evidence of vesicular transport across the mesothelium in these experiments. These findings are consistent with physiologic data which postulate that mesothelial transport can be accounted for, at least in part, by passive diffusion through a system of pores, and they suggest that these pores are located in the intercellular clefts.

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The ultrastructural basis of alveolar-capillary membrane permeability to peroxidase used as a tracer.

The permeability of the alveolar-capillary membrane to a small molecular weight protein, horseradish peroxidase (HRP), was investigated by means of ultrastructural cytochemistry. Mice were injected intravenously with HRP and sacrificed at varying intervals. Experiments with intranasally instilled HRP were also carried out. The tissue was fixed in formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde fixative. Frozen sections were cut, incubated in Graham and Karnovsky's medium for demonstrating HRP activity, postfixed in OsO4, and processed for electron microscopy. 90 sec after injection, HRP had passed through endothelial junctions into underlying basement membranes, but was stopped from entering the alveolar space by zonulae occludentes between epithelial cells. HRP was demonstrated in pinocytotic vesicles of both endothelial and epithelial cells, but the role of these vesicles in net protein transport appeared to be minimal. Intranasally instilled HRP was similarly prevented from permeating the underlying basement membrane by epithelial zonulae occludentes. Pulmonary endothelial intercellular clefts stained with uranyl acetate appeared to contain maculae occludentes rather than zonulae occludentes. HRP did not alter the ultrastructure of these junctions.

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Nondroplet ultrastructural demonstration of cytochrome oxidase activity with a polymerizing osmiophilic reagent, diaminobenzidine (DAB).

A new method for demonstrating cytochrome oxidase activity, based upon the oxidative polymerization of 3,3'-diaminobenzidine (DAB) to an osmiophilic reaction product, has improved the localization of this enzyme over methods based upon the Nadi reaction, in both the light and electron microscopes. The reaction product occurs in nondroplet form, which more accurately delineates the localization of cytochrome oxidase in mitochondria of heart, liver, and kidney. In electron microscopic preparations the excess reaction product is found to overflow into the intracristate spaces and into the outer compartment between inner and outer limiting mitochondrial membranes. This finding suggests that the enzymatic activity of cytochrome c is located on the inner surface of the intracristate space which is the outer surface of the inner mitochondrial membrane. Succinic dehydrogenase activity has also been located at this site by using an osmiophilic ditetrazolium salt, TC-NBT. Considered together, the sites of reactivity of both parts of the respiratory chain have implications for the chemiosomotic hypothesis of Mitchell who suggests a mechanism of energy conservation during electron transport in the respiratory chain of the mitochondrion.

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Metabolic and morphological observations on the effect of surface-active agents of leukocytes.

Morphological and metabolic observations have been made on the effects of endotoxin, deoxycholate, and digitonin (at less than 50 microg/ml) on polymorphonuclear leukocytes and mononuclear cells. The agents stimulate the respiration and glucose oxidation of these cells in a manner similar to that seen during phagocytosis. Electron microscopy revealed no morphological changes with the first two agents, but dramatic membrane changes were seen in the case of digitonin. Here tubular projections of characteristic size and shape formed on and split off the membrane. All the agents stimulated uptake of inulin, but efforts to demonstrate increased pinocytosis by electron microscopy have not so far succeeded, probably due to limitations in present experimental techniques.

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Fine structural localization of a blood-brain barrier to exogenous peroxidase.

Horseradish peroxidase was administered to mice by intravenous injection, and its distribution in cerebral cortex studied with a recently available technique for localizing peroxidase with the electron microscope. Brains were fixed by either immersion or vascular perfusion 10-60 min after administration of various doses of peroxidase. Exogenous peroxidase was localized in the lumina of blood vessels and in some micropinocytotic vesicles within endothelial cells; none was found beyond the vascular endothelium. Micropinocytotic vesicles were few in number and did not appear to transport peroxidase while tight junctions between endothelial cells were probably responsible for preventing its intercellular passage. Our findings therefore localize, at a fine structural level, a "barrier" to the passage of peroxidase at the endothelium of vessels in the cerebral cortex. The significance of these findings is discussed, particularly with reference to a recent study in which similar techniques were applied to capillaries in heart and skeletal muscle.

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The ultrastructural basis of capillary permeability studied with peroxidase as a tracer.

The transendothelial passage of horseradish peroxidase, injected intravenously into mice, was studied at the ultrastructural level in capillaries of cardiac and skeletal muscle. Peroxidase appeared to permeate endothelial intercellular clefts and cell junctions. Abnormal peroxidase-induced vascular leakage was excluded. Neutral lanthanum tracer gave similar results. The endothelial cell junctions were considered to be maculae occludentes, with gaps of about 40 A in width between the maculae, rather than zonulae occludentes. Some observations in favor of concurrent vesicular transport of peroxidase were also made. It is concluded that the endothelial cell junctions are most likely to be the morphological equivalent of the small pore system proposed by physiologists for the passage of small, lipid-insoluble molecules across the endothelium.

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