Transported enzymes in sciatic nerve and sensory ganglia of rats exposed to maternal antibodies against nerve growth factor

Abstract

The accumulations by axoplasmic transport of selected enzyme activities proximal and distal to a ligature placed on the sciatic nerve were monitored in rats exposed in utero to maternal antibodies to nerve growth factor (NGF) and in control rats. Littermates of the animals exposed to anti-NGF were shown elsewhere to have had a 70% reduction in the number of sensory neurons in dorsal root ganglia and a 90% reduction in number of neurons in superior cervical (sympathetic) ganglion. The accumulation of F(-)-sensitive acid phosphatase activity was depressed 75% both proximal and distal to the tie. Accumulation of F(-)-resistant acid phosphatase activity was depressed nearly 50% proximal to the tie. Distal accumulation of this activity did not occur in either group of rats. Accumulation of acetylcholinesterase activity was depressed 30%. Distal accumulation of the activities of beta-glucuronidase and hexokinase was depressed 50%. In the lumbar dorsal root ganglia, dry weight was reduced 40%, and the activities of peroxide-sensitive, F(-)-resistant acid phosphatase and of the mitochondrial enzymes hexokinase, glutamic dehydrogenase, glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase, and NAD-dependent isocitric dehydrogenase were all reduced a little more, 45--50% per ganglion. However, the activities of the lysosomal enzymes, F(-)-sensitive acid phosphatase and beta-glucuronidase, of the peroxide-resistant, F(-)-resistant acid phosphatase, and of the mitochondrial enzyme glutaminase were all reduced about 60% per ganglion. The results of these measurements were interpreted to suggest that much, and perhaps all, of the F(-)-sensitive acid phosphatase activity in motion in peripheral nerve in rat is confined to sensory axons.