Histochemical and biochemical aspects of corpora amylacea

1432-0533

Corpora amylacea ; Glycogen ; Brain ; Histochemistry ; Chemistry

Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000

Medicine

Summary By histochemical as well as by chemical evidence it has been shown that CA from human brain contain a glycogen-like substance, to which phosphate-and sulphate groups are bound. In this study the CA have been studiedin situ and after isolation. The CA were obtained from formaldehyde fixed tissue, which by histological reactions was shown to be rich in these bodies. First the tissue was defatted with chloroform-methanol. Then the defatted tissue was repeatedly digested with papain and the CA were isolated after each proteolytic treatment by centrifugation in 2 M sucrose. The purified CA contained up to 80% of a glycogen-like substance, 1.1% phosphate and 0.72% sulphate. The histochemical reactions such as PAS, PAS-dimedone, Best's carmine, toluidin blue and uranyl nitrate, as well as the effect of treatment with α-amylase, DNase and hyaluronidase on these colour reactions are in agreement with the results of the chemical analysis. All reactions on lipids, nucleic acids and sialic acid were negative. Protein, which by chemical analysis was found to amount to about 5%, was hardly detectable by histological reactions.

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