Intestinal and renal origin of trehalase activity in rabbit amniotic fluid

To utilize specific fetal markers in amniotic fluid for prenatal detection of fetal anomalies, it is necessary to determine the precise tissue origin of these markers. In rabbit fetuses, we distinguished between intestinal and renal forms of trehalase (alpha,alpha'-trehalose-1-D-glucohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.28) in amniotic fluid on the basis of differences in net electric charges. Trehalase was solubilized from purified brush-border membranes of fetal rabbit kidney and intestine by Triton X-100 treatment, whereas the trehalase activity in amniotic fluid was soluble. The kinetic properties of trehalase from intestine, kidney and amniotic fluid were very similar. The Mr of the soluble amniotic fluid trehalase was between 72,600 and 66,300 from hydrodynamic parameters, depending on the amount of sugar bound to the enzyme, and 48,500 by radiation inactivation, a method which detects only the protein part of the enzyme. For membrane-bound trehalase from kidney and intestine in situ the radiation inactivation method also gave a molecular size of around 49,000. Isoelectric focusing of freshly solubilized membranes allowed us to distinguish between renal and intestinal forms of trehalase in rabbit fetuses on the basis of different isoelectric points. Each trehalase form was also present in the amniotic fluid but in varying proportions depending on the gestational age at which the amniotic fluid was collected. The results suggest that early in gestation amniotic fluid trehalase activity originates exclusively from the fetal kidney but that more and more intestinal enzyme is released into the amniotic cavity as the fetus develops. Similar results were also obtained when ion-exchange chromatography was used to separate the various trehalase forms. The development of trehalase activity in rabbit fetal kidney and intestine correlates well with its occurrence in the amniotic fluid; trehalase activity in the kidney develops early in gestation whereas the intestinal trehalase activity develops just before term.