Cultured neonatal rat oligodendrocytes are enriched in acid hydrolase activities

We measured the activity of several acid hydrolases in oligodendrocyte and mixed glial (predominantly astrocytic) cell cultures prepared from neonatal rat cerebra. When compared with the mixed glial cultures, the cultured oligodendrocytes exhibited higher levels for all the hydrolases when activities were normalized to protein content. When enzymic activities were examined as a function of DNA content, oligodendrocytic alpha-L-fucosidase, beta-D-glucuronidase, arylsulfatase, and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase were higher than in mixed glial cultures, whereas the activities of alpha-D-glucosidase, beta-D-galactosidase and acid phosphatase were not elevated. These differences could not be accounted for by the fetal bovine serum present in the culture medium. The enrichment in acid hydrolase specific activities in the oligodendrocytes may be associated with a rapid turnover of at least some of the extensive myelin-like membrane formed by these cultured cells. Alternatively, the enrichment of acid hydrolase activity in the oligodendrocytes may be associated with intracellular vesicles of lysosomal origin which may play a role in myelin-like membrane assembly. Exactly which of the above two processes, or possible combinations thereof, is responsible for the present finding is not known.