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The ultrastructural distribution of alkaline phosphatase and Na+, K+-ATPase on the brain capillaries in Rana esculenta was investigated. Alkaline phosphatase activity appears both on the luminal and abluminal walls of the endothelial capillary cells; Na+, K+-ATPase is, instead, only present on the abluminal side. This different enzymatic distribution indicates that endothelial cells of the brain capillaries are polarized and the luminal and abluminal endothelial membranes are functionally different. The role of these two enzymatic activities is discussed in relation to the blood-brain barrier.

The permeability of the newt cerebral capillaries to lanthanum ion has been studied after perfusion with mannitol solutions of increasing molarity. In the control specimens lanthanum deposits were limited to the luminal side of the capillaries and tracer did not spread to the pericapillary spaces due to the tight junctions. Treatment with hypertonic solutions of mannitol (0.25M, 0.5M, 1M) caused opening of the blood brain barrier with a progressive increase in lanthanum between the endothelial cell edges, in the basal lamina and in the extracellular spaces of the nervous parenchyma in relation to the molarity of the mannitol solution. The spread of lanthanum is probably due to opening of the tight junctions between the endothelial cells, since pinocytotic vesicles labelled with tracer were not evident.

AChE distribution during the early phases of the repairing process following the removal of a plug from the optic tectum of newt has been investigated. The first AChE-positive neurons appear in the regenerating area on the 60th day after the operation. At this stage acetylcholinesterase activity is clearly seen also between the nervous fibers and in some large dendrites, present in the superficial fibrous area. The enzyme distribution and the submicroscopic organization show that in this area cholinergic connections between regenerated axons and newly-formed nervous elements are being established.

Analysis of carcinoembryonic antigen (CE)-reactive glycoproteins from liver metastasis of primary colon and breast tumors and from primary breast tumors has been carried out by affinity chromatography on concanavalin A (Con A)-Sepharose. Three CEA-reactive glycoproteins from colon tumors (liver metastasis) with different binding capacity to Con A have been separated and further purified by gel filtration. Of the 3 CEA-reactive glycoproteins, 1 of them did not bind to Con A. Both Con A-binding and nonbinding CEA-reactive glycoproteins were immunologically indistinguishable when tested with a reference goat anti-CEA (ACE, 67-70; Dr. C.W. Todd and Dr. M.L. Egan), as well as with a variety of rabbit anti-CEA and anti-CEA (nonbinding) prepared in this laboratory. Carbohydrate analysis showed that mannose content of different purified CEA preparations or nonbinding CEA did not differ appreciably. N-Acetylglucosamine content of purified CEA preparations, however, varied considerably, suggesting that this sugar may impart the specificity of binding of CEA to Con A. The purified CEA preparations differed in their ability to inhibit the binding of 125l-labeled CEA to goat anti-CEA. One of the purified CEA preparations had 3- to 8-fold greater inhibitory capacity when compared to other preparations and shared a partial identity with a glycoprotein present in the extracts of fetal colon. The glycoprotein extracts of primary breast tumors did not contain a CEA that was immunologically identical to CEA present in colon tumors, whereas the liver metastasis of primary breast tumors showed several CEA-reactive glycoproteins as judged by radioimmunoassay. However, these CEA-reactive glycoproteins did not have any antigenic relationship with CEA from colon tumors when tested by double diffusion and immunoelectrophoresis. In conclusion, when Con A affinity chromatography of tumor glycoproteins is carried out under defined conditions and with the use of appropriate antisera, it is possible to delineate the presence or absence of CEA in tumors of nonentodermal origin.

Acetylcholinesterase localization has been studied by electron microscopic histochemistry in the quail optic tectum. Ultrastructural analysis reveals that the different neuronal types in the tectum possess the metabolic pathways for AChE synthesis to different degrees. From the site of synthesis in cell bodies the enzyme spreads towards areas of neuropil. In the neuropil of AChE-rich areas a balance seems to exist between enzyme stored in dendrites (and sometimes axon terminals) and enzyme released into the extracellular spaces. Precise identification of cholinergic synapses by means of AChE localization is in most cases impossible, due to extensive spread of the enzyme through the extracellular compartments of the neuropil. Unilateral ocular ablation causes disappearance of the stratum opticum and decrease in thickness of the superficial tectal layers in the contralateral optic tectum, but only minor modifications in AChE localization. This finding is in agreement with biochemical results which show equivalence of the relative concentration of AChE in the right and left optic tectum 1 or 2 months after ablation of the right eye. The experimental evidence suggests that cholinergic mechanisms are not related to the discharge of retinal afferents on receptive tectal neurons, but more likely to intrinsic neural circuits which might be involved in the modulation of tectal activity.

The histochemical localization of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was studied by electron microscopy in the cerebellar cortex of the goldfish and the catfish. The patterns of enzyme distribution show noticeable differences in the two teleost species at the level of the corresponding cerebellar structures. Among the most distinctive features is the prevailing intracellular localization of enzyme activity in the goldfish and the prevailing extracellular localization in the catfish in the molecular layer and, to a lesser extent, the granular layer. Only quantitative differences in the ability to synthesize AChE can be recorded among the different cerebellar neurons in the two species, since all these neurons exhibit different amounts of enzyme activity linked to their cytoplasmic structures. Comparing the results obtained with those of previous histochemical, experimental and developmental researches, the hypothesis seems well founded that the embryonic pool of cerebellar neurons is made up of AChE-synthesizing nruroblasts which, during development, loss or maintain to a different the mechanisms for AChE synthesis. In addition the light and electron microscope histochemistry reveals at different levels of resolution that the final pattern of AChE distribution in the cerebellar cortex is the sum of different degress of AChE synthesis by cerebellar neurons and different degrees of enzyme release in extracellular spaces.

A light and electron microscopic histochemical study has been carried out on the localization of acetylcholinesterase in the optic tectum of newt. The ultrastructural analysis reveals that the pyriform neurons in the periventricular area are provided with the metabolic pathways for AChE synthesis. The enzyme, synthetized in the rough reticulum and conveyed in dendritic branches is prevailingly released in two reaction bands in the neuropil of the superficial fibrous zone. The ablation of one eye gives rise to both the degeneration of retinal tracts and terminals and to the disappearance of the most external reaction band. Some modifications in AChE distribution are also evident in the only reaction band therein. The results obtained are interpreted on the basis of some hypotheses about possible cholinergic mechanisms being active in the optic tectum of Urodela.