Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A cerium method for the ultracytochemical localization of monoamine oxidase activity

  • Papers
  • Published:
The Histochemical Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

A cytochemical method based on the complex formation between cerous ions and hydrogen peroxide is described for the ultrastructural localization of monoamine oxidase (MAO). First, the residual MAO activity after fixation was measured by a radiochemical assay technique and was found to be sufficiently retained for cytochemical detection. Although the Tris buffer used in the present method was found to be inhibitory to MAO, considerable activity was still retained after fixation and incubation in Tris.

MAO activity, detected as precipitates of cerium perhydroxide, was observed in the mitochondrial outer compartment, mitochondrial cristae and perinuclear space of myocardial cells and endothelial cells of rat heart. MAO activity was also found along the plasma membrane of capillary endothelia. Omission of substrate from the incubation medium or pre-incubation with pargyline, a specific MAO inhibitor, drastically reduced the amount of deposits. The present cerium method seems promising because of its reproducibility and the high electron density of the reaction products.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Boadle, M. C. &Bloom, F. E. (1969) A method for the fine structural localization of monoamine oxidase.J. Histochem. Cytochem. 17, 331–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, R. T., Drath, D. B., Karnovsky, M. L. &Karnovsky, M. J. (1975) Localization of NADH oxidase on the surface of human polymorphonuclear leucocytes by a new cerium method.J. Cell Biol. 67, 566–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callingham, B. A. &Laverty, R. (1973) Studies on the nature of the increased monoamine oxidase activity in the rat heart after adrenalectomy.J. Pharm. Pharmac. 25, 940–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Champlain, J. De, Mueller, R. A. &Axelrod J. (1969) Subcellular localization of monoamine oxidase in rat tissues.J. Pharmac. exp. Ther. 166, 339–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler, C. J., Callingham, B. A. &Houslay, M. D. (1977) The effect of tris buffers on rat liver mitochondrial monoamine oxidase.J. Pharm. Pharmac. 29, 411–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler, C. J., Callingham, B. A. Mantle, T. J. &Tipton, K. F. (1978) Monoamine oxidase A and B: a useful concept?Biochem. Pharmac. 27, 97–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glenner, G. G., Burtner, H. J. &Brown, Jr, G. W. (1957) The histochemical demonstration of monoamine oxidase activity by tetrazolium salts.J. Histochem. Cytochem. 5, 591–600.

    Google Scholar 

  • Good, N. E. (1966) Hydrogen ion buffers for biological research.Biochemistry 5, 467–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenawalt, J. W. &Schnaitman, C. (1970) An appraisal of the use of monoamine oxidase as an enzyme marker for the outer membrane of rat liver mitochondriaJ. Cell Biol. 46, 173–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanker, J. S., Kusuk, C. J., Bloom, F. E. &Pearse, A. G. E. (1973) The demonstration of dehydrogenases and monoamine oxidase by the formation of osmium blacks at the sites of Hatchett's brown.Histochemie 33, 205–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarrott, B. &Iversen, L. L. (1968) The subcellular distribution of monoamine oxidase activity in rat liver and vas deferens.Biochem. Pharmac. 17, 1619–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe, M. C., Reichenbach, D. D. &Horita, A. (1975) Extraneuronal monoamine oxidase in rat heart: biochemical characterization and electron microscopic localization.J. Pharmac. exp. Ther. 194, 522–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowry, O. H., Rosebrough, N. J., Farr, A. L. &Randall R. J. (1951) Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagenJ. biol. Chem. 193, 265–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller, J. &Da Lage, C. (1977) Ultracytochemical demonstration of monoamine oxidase activity in nervous and non-nervous tissues of the rat.J Histochem. Cytochem. 25, 337–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, J. M., Briggs, R. T., &Karnovsky, M. J. (1978) Localization of D-amino acid oxidase on the cell surface of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes.J. Cell Biol. 77, 59–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shannon, Jr. W. A., Wasserkrug, H. L. &Seligman, A. M. (1974) The ultrastructural localization of monoamine oxidase (MAO) with tryptamine and a new tetrazolium salt, 2-(2′-benzothiazolyl)-5-styryl-3-(4′-phthalhydrazidyl) tetrazolium chloride (BSPT).J. Histochem. Cytochem. 22, 170–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tipton, K. F., Houslay, M. D. &Mantle, T. J. (1976) The nature and locations of the multiple forms of monoamine oxidase InMonoamine Oxidase and its Inhibition, Ciba Foundation Symposium 39, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 5–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhuis, M. &Wendelaar Bonga, S. E. (1979) Cytochemical localization of catalase and several hydrogen peroxide-producing oxidases in the nucleoids and matrix of rat liver peroxisomes.Histochem. J. 11, 561–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D., Gascoigne, J. E. &Williams, E. D. (1975) A tetrazolium technique for the histochemical demonstration of multiple forms of rat brain monoamine oxidase.Histochem. J. 7, 585–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoo, B. Y., Oreland, L. &Persson, A. (1974) Effects of formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde fixation on the monoamine oxidase activity in isolated rat liver mitochondria.J. Histochem. Cytochem. 22, 445–6.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, 606, Kyoto, Japan

    Toyoshi Fujimoto & Kazuo Ogawa

  2. Shimane Medical University, 693, Izumo, Shimane, Japan

    Kenichirou Inomata

Authors
  1. Toyoshi Fujimoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kenichirou Inomata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kazuo Ogawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fujimoto, T., Inomata, K. & Ogawa, K. A cerium method for the ultracytochemical localization of monoamine oxidase activity. Histochem J 14, 87–98 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01041132

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01041132

Keywords

Search

Navigation