Activities of Hexosaminidases and Hexosidases in the Brain and Spinal Cord of Rats (B. LIVING SCIENCE)

In the present study, activities of 4 kinds of hexosaminidases and 5 kinds of hexosidases in rat brain and spinal cord were examined. All hexosaminidases in the brain were significantly higher in activity than those in the spinal cord at p>N-acetyl-β-D-galactosaminidase>>N-acetyl-α-D-galactosaminidase. However activity of N-acetyl-α-D-glucosaminidase could be detected in neither brain nor spinal cord. The most active enzyme in N-acetyl-hexosaminidases was N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase. The most active enzyme in hexosidases was β-galactosidase in both brain and spinal cord. And the activity in the latter organ was significantly higher than that of the former. In hexosaminidases, distribution of each enzyme activity in both organs showed the almost similar pattern, although activities themselves of hexosaminidases were higher in brain than those in spinal cord, showing 83∿84% for β-GluN-ase, 12% for β-GalN-ase and 4∿5% for α-GalN-ase. On hexosidase activity, β-galactosidase occupied 30 to 40% of total hexosidase activity in both organs. Furthermore β-galactosidase activity of the spinal cord was higher in both specific activity itself and distribution ratio than those of the brain