Intrinsic focal variations of rabbit aortic hydrolase activities

Normal arterial foci which take up Evans blue dye (EBD) in vivo are believed to represent atherosclerosis-prone, hemodynamically stressed foci compared to areas which exclude dye. We have used the rabbit EBD model to examine focal aortic hydrolases of blue areas versus white areas, and we report herein significant focal variations of hydrolase activities. Enzymes measured included neutral alpha-glucosidase, N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase, alpha-mannosidase, acid alpha-glucosidase, beta-galactosidase, beta-glucuronidase, cathepsin C, and acid cholesteryl esterase (ACE); specific activities were expressed on the basis of tissue DNA. In correlative areas of EBD uptake in normal rabbit aortic arch, ACE activity averaged 17% higher and cathepsin C activity averaged 37% lower than activities of areas free of EBD in the descending thoracic aorta (P less than 0.02). None of the glycosidases studied differed significantly between blue and white aortic areas. These findings indicate that discrete, intrinsic differences of hydrolytic enzyme activities exist in the normal rabbit aorta in areas delineated by in vivo EBD uptake, areas recognized as lesion-prone vs lesion-resistant.