[Immunohistochemical localization of creatinkinase isoenzymes in human tissue (author's transl)]

The use of an immunohistochemical method permits the localization of creatine kinase isoenzymes MM and BB in tissue sections. Frozen sections are first incubated with the specific antiserum and secondly with the soluble antigen under investigation. The antibody fixed creatine kinase can then be visualized by the tetrazolium-salt linked histochemical reaction. In this way CK-BB was found in the smooth muscle and the mucosa of the human colon. In sections of skeletal muscle CK-MM was predominantly localized in the intermyofibrillar space. Membrane bound activity could be demonstrated in the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the surface membrane after elution of the cytoplasmic enzyme. In the human tonsilla CK-BB was localized in lymphatic and epithelial tissues, CK-MM in the muscle fibers. The isoenzyme patterns in single sections of tonsilla were in parallel determined by the immunotitration assay. The results indicate the usefulness of the combined application of histochemistry and immunotitration in serial tissue sections.