"Acid Phosphatase" Reactions in Peripheral Nerves

Phosphatases in Normal and Reorganizing Stentors

“…In initial exploratory tests the usual method of fixation was tried by dropping living Stentors into chilled acetone before treating them with the substrate. It was found, however, that with this procedure much of the subsequent impregnation potential is lost, possibly due to partial enzyme inactivation by acetone (Stafford and Atkinson, 1948), possibly also clue to a leaching out of some of the enzyme in the washing process (Barthelmez and Bensley, 1947). Air-drying on the other hand gave maximal and consistent results.…”

“…Inasmuch as in Stentor such control preparations do not reveal any precipitate, non-enzymatic impregnation probably does not occur to any appreciable extent under the present conditions of testing; the lead sulfide deposits obtained in the experimental material may thus be regarded presumptively as visualizations of enzyme activity. Nevertheless, in view of the possibility of enzyme shifting during the testing procedure (Barthelmez and Bensley, 1947), caution is warranted in interpreting the results, both with respect to the specificity and the localization of the reaction.…”

A New Staining Technique for Polar Bodies

“…In our hands it gave better and more constant results than those obtained by the use of metachromatic dyes. Although the histochemical phosphatase techniques have been applied not only to animal tissues and plants but also to bacteria (Bayliss, Glick, and Siem, 1948), doubt has been expressed as to the specificity of the staining technique for acid phosphatase (Heinzen, 1947 (Bartelmez and Bensley, 1947;Lassek, 1947). To our knowledge, however, no other cellular structures so far examined have shown such a specific absorption of lead as do the polar bodies.…”