doi:10.1369/jhc.5A6745.2005
Volume 54 (2): 191-199, 2006 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. In Situ Localization of Transketolase Activity in Epithelial Cells of Different Rat Tissues and Subcellularly in Liver Parenchymal Cells
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, CERQT-Parc Cientific de Barcelona, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain (JB,AR-M,JJC,MC), and Department of Cell Biology and Histology, University of Amsterdam, Academical Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (KSB,HV,AJ,WMF) Correspondence to: Dr. Wilma M. Frederiks, Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 15, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: w.m.frederiks{at}amc.uva.nl
Metabolic mapping of enzyme activities (enzyme histochemistry) is an important tool to understand (patho)physiological functions of enzymes. A new enzyme histochemical method has been developed to detect transketolase activity in situ in various rat tissues and its ultrastructural localization in individual cells. In situ detection of transketolase is important because this multifunctional enzyme has been related with diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Wernicke-Korsakoff's syndrome. The proposed method is based on the tetrazolium salt method applied to unfixed cryostat sections in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol. The method appeared to be specific for transketolase activity when the proper control reaction is performed and showed a linear increase of the amount of final reaction product with incubation time. Transketolase activity was studied in liver, small intestine, trachea, tongue, kidney, adrenal gland, and eye. Activity was found in liver parenchyma, epithelium of small intestine, trachea, tongue, proximal tubules of kidney and cornea, and ganglion cells in medulla of adrenal gland. To demonstrate transketolase activity ultrastructurally in liver parenchymal cells, the cupper iron method was used. It was shown that transketolase activity was present in peroxisomes and at membranes of granular endoplasmic reticulum. This ultrastructural localization is similar to that of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity, suggesting activity of the pentose phosphate pathway at these sites. It is concluded that the method developed for in situ localization of transketolase activity for light and electron microscopy is specific and allows further investigation of the role of transketolase in (proliferation of) cancer cells and other pathophysiological processes. (J Histochem Cytochem 54:191199, 2006)
Key Words: transketolase enzyme histochemistry electron microscopy pentose phosphate pathway
MULTIFUNCTIONAL SO-CALLED MOONLIGHTING PROTEINS are dependent on their cellular and subcellular localization to exert different functions (Jeffery 1999
Changes in TK activity have been demonstrated in a large number of pathologies. In Wernicke-Korsakoff's syndrome, diminished TK activity with reduced affinity for TPP has been shown to correlate with the neurological disorders and thiamine deficiency, which is characteristic for this disease (McCool et al. 1993
TK has also been associated with cell proliferation and cancer by its role in the generation of ribose-5-phosphate, which is the backbone of nucleic acids. An important role of TK in cancer cell proliferation was based on the development of thiamine deficiency in patients with breast and bronchial carcinomas (Basu and Dickerson, 1976 Pathological alterations in TK activity may have many causes: decreased amounts of protein, posttranslational inactivation, or changed subcellular compartmentation of the enzyme. Traditional biochemical assays do not provide precise information on the localization of an enzyme, whereas immunohistochemistry does not allow conclusions whether the enzyme is active or inactive. Therefore, it is important to detect the activity of enzymes in their natural environment in cells or tissues by enzyme histochemical methods. Enzyme localization can be of great importance to understanding its function and to establishing whether disease alters activity and its ultrastructural localization, because the microenvironment of enzymes may determine their activity. In the present study, a new enzyme histochemical method has been developed to detect TK activity in situ in various tissues and cells and to determine its ultrastructural localization. It is demonstrated that TK activity is present in liver parenchymal cells, small intestine, trachea, tongue, cornea and proximal tubules in kidney, and nerve cells. Moreover, it is shown that TK is not only a cytosolic enzyme as assumed so far, but is also present in peroxisomes and at membranes of granular endoplasmic reticulum in liver parenchymal cells. The ultrastructural localization of TK activity has large similarities with that of G6PD activity, suggesting that the entire PPP is active in these subcellular compartments. In situ localization of TK activity can be useful to study its role in cancer progression and in diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Wernicke-Korsakoff's syndrome.
Tissue Collection Six male Wistar rats, weighing 200250 g, were used to obtain liver, small intestine, trachea, tongue, kidney, adrenal gland, and eye tissues. The animals were sacrificed with an overdose of barbiturates. Treatment of the animals was in accordance with the Animal Ethical Committee guidelines at the Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam. The various organs were immediately removed and small parts of 0.5 cm3 were cut and frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at 80C before use. Cryostat sections, 8 µm thick, were cut at 25C on a motor-driven cryostat (Bright; Huntington, UK) fitted with a rotary retracting microtome. Sections were picked up on clean glass slides and stored at 25C until use.
Isolation of Rat Liver Parenchymal Cells
Light Microscopical Procedure for the Localization of TK Activity
The reactions involved in the histochemical assay are shown in Figure 1A
. Control reactions were performed by using incubation media that lacked the substrate mixture. The specificity of the reaction was established by adding 10 mM ADP to the test and to the control incubation media (Hosomi et al. 1989
GAPD activity was demonstrated using the incubation medium to demonstrate TK activity, in which the substrate mixture was replaced by 10 mM fructose-1,6 diphosphate (Henderson, 1976
Quantification of TK Activity Using Image Analysis
Electron Microscopical Procedure for the Localization of TK Activity After incubation, cells were fixed immediately with 4% paraformaldehyde and 1% (v/v) glutaraldehyde in 100 mM cacodylate buffer, pH 7.4, at 4C for 248 hr. After fixation, cells were rinsed with 100 mM cacodylate buffer, pH 7.4, for 40 min, postfixed with 1% OsO4 in 100 mM cacodylate buffer, pH 7.4, for 60 min at 4C or with 1% OsO4 and 1.5% potassium ferrocyanide in 100 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.4, for 2 hr at 4C and thoroughly rinsed with bidistilled water at 4C. Afterwards, samples were dehydrated and embedded in epoxy resin LX-112 according to standard procedures. Semithin sections (12 µm thick) were cut on a LKB Pyramitone and stained with methylene blue to check the quality of the cell preparations. Ultrathin sections (3070 nm thick) were cut on an ULTRACUT E ultramicrotome (Leica Microsystems; Wezlar, Germany) and studied with an EM-10C transmission electron microscope (Zeiss; Oberkochen, Germany). The activity of GAPD was demonstrated using the incubation medium to demonstrate TK activity in which the substrate mixture was replaced by 10 mM fructose-1,6 diphosphate.
Light Microscopical Method to Detect TK Activity In Situ Unfixed cryostat sections of rat liver incubated for the detection of TK activity showed formazan formation in liver parenchymal cells after incubation in the presence of the substrate mixture (Figure 2 ). Addition of exogenous GAPD did not affect the amounts of formazan produced. This means that endogenous GAPD activity is high enough for driving formazan formation by TK activity. Addition of TPP to incubation media did not affect the amounts of final reaction product generated in liver parenchymal cells incubated with test and control incubation media, suggesting that the endogenous TPP concentration was not limiting for the detection of TK activity. The amounts of formazan produced in liver parenchyma increased linearly with incubation time (Figure 2). After incubation in the absence of the substrate mixture, high amounts of formazan were produced that also increased linearly with time (Figure 2). To test the specificity of the test minus control reaction, test and control incubations were performed in the presence of 10 mM ADP, an inhibitor of TK activity. Test and control reactions were strongly inhibited by ADP and both reactions did not increase in time (Figure 2). This means that the relatively high control reaction was due to the use of endogenous substrates by TK to produce final reaction product. Therefore, we conclude that the specific TK reaction is the test reaction in the presence of the substrate mixture of TK minus the proper control reaction, which is an incubation in the absence of the substrate mixture of TK and in the presence of 10 mM ADP. This test reaction minus the proper control reaction is again linear in time (Figure 2). ADP did not affect GAPD activity (data not shown), which means that the effect of ADP on the TK reaction is a consequence of inhibition of TK activity and not from inhibition of the auxiliary enzyme.
Localization of TK Activity in Various Tissues The histochemical procedure to detect TK activity was applied to various organs. In rat liver, TK activity was mainly localized in liver parenchymal cells and was higher in pericentral than in periportal areas (Figure 3A ). Enzyme activity in small intestine was present in epithelial cells (enterocytes and goblet cells). Activity was higher in epithelium in villi than in crypts (Figure 3B). In trachea, activity was found in the epithelial cell layer of the wall (Figure 3C). Activity was present in goblet cells, cilia-containing cells and basal cells. TK activity was present in the epithelial layer of the tongue with highest activity in the basal cells, whereas TK activity was absent in the superficial cornified layer (Figure 3D). In kidney, TK activity was observed in epithelial cells of proximal tubules but not in epithelial cells of distal tubules, collecting ducts, lis of Henle, and glomerular cells (Figure 3E). In adrenal gland, TK activity was found in particular cells in the medulla but not in the cortex (Figure 3F). In rat eye, TK activity was present in epithelial cells of the cornea (Figure 3G) and in nerve cells of the retina (Figure 3H). Control reactions performed in the absence of the substrate mixture and in the presence of ADP were similar to reactions performed in the presence of the substrate mixture and ADP, again indicating the specificity of the reaction. Hardly any formazan was produced under these conditions in all tissues tested.
TK activity was also demonstrated in isolated liver parenchymal cells. The permeabilization procedure with 0.025% glutaraldehyde, which is necessary for TK incubations for electron microscopy, did not affect the amount of formazan produced by liver parenchymal cells (Figure 4 ). This was confirmed by measurements with image analysis. The morphology of glutaraldehyde-treated cells is better than of untreated cells brought on glass slides. Moreover, untreated cells showed inhomogeneity with respect to TK activity (Figure 4).
In all tissues, activity of GAPD was higher than that of TK (data not shown).
Ultrastructural Localization of TK Activity
In the present study, an enzyme histochemical method to detect TK activity in situ is described. TK is a moonlighting protein, showing different functions depending on its localization, and has been implicated in different pathologies such as cancer, diabetes, and neurological disorders (McCool et al. 1993 The procedure to demonstrate TK activity in unfixed cryostat sections or cells is as follows:
The procedure was applied to sections of various organs of the rat. It was found that the level of enzyme activity was dependent on the organ and also on the region within the organ where it was found. This indicates the importance of this new method to localize TK activity in situ as classical biochemical methods use homogenates of organs where the different components are mixed, obtaining average activities only. We have found that TK activity was higher in pericentral than in periportal areas of rat liver. This is different from the localization of G6PD activity, the rate-limiting enzyme of the oxidative PPP that is extremely high in Kupffer cells and shows an equal distribution in liver lobules of male rats (Jonges et al. 1995
Another important finding reported in the present study is the subcellular localization of TK activity. To demonstrate enzyme activity in cells at the ultrastructural level, cells should be permeabilized. In the present study, we applied 0.025% glutaraldehyde, which has been proven to be an excellent way for cell permeabilization (Van Noorden et al. 1982 In conclusion, the method developed for in situ localization of TK activity for light and electron microscopy is specific and allows further investigation of the role of TK in (proliferation of) cancer cells and other pathophysiological processes.
Support is given by "La Caixa" Oncology Grant Program (Fundacio "La Caixa," ON03/070-00). The authors are grateful to Prof. Dr. C.J.F. van Noorden for fruitful discussions and critical review of the manuscript, Mr. J.P.M. Peeterse for useful help with the illustrations, and Mrs. T.M.S. Pierik for careful preparation of the manuscript.
Received for publication May 30, 2005; accepted August 1, 2005
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