Transport of glial cell acid phosphatase by endoplasmic reticulum into damaged axons

Earlier observations indicated that cutting the photoreceptor (R) cell perikarya in the retina of the flies Musca domestica and Calliphora erythrocephala resulted in an extremely rapid degeneration of the R-cell axons. The process manifested itself within minutes and secondary lysosomes appeared early on in the degenerating axons. In this study, biochemical assays of the classical lysosomal marker enzyme acid phosphatase (AcPase) showed a rapid increase in activity upon cutting the retina, reaching a peak around 5 min, followed by a drop and a subsequent slow steady rise in activity between about 4 and 24 h after the cut. Inhibitor studies indicated that at least 2 different acid phosphatases were involved, which showed identical activity changes. EM cytochemical studies with either beta-glycerophosphate or cytidine monophosphate as substrates indicated that the degeneration-dependent AcPase activity originated exclusively in one specific glial cell type in the distal lamina, the satellite glia. These cells are contiguous with R-cell axons in the pseudocartridges, directly proximal to the basement membrane of the retina. In normal uncut flies, reaction product indicative of AcPase activity was found in satellite glial cells in both rough ER (and perinuclear cisternae) and in smooth ER, the 2 types of cisternae being clearly in continuity. The electron-dense reaction product resulting from AcPase activity often showed continuity between the smooth ER of satellite glial cells and extracellular sites between the satellite glia and R-axons. This may result from the low levels of AcPase being synthesized in rough ER, and then exported to extra-cellular sites. Within minutes of cutting the retina the freqeuncy of satellite glia smooth ER staining for AcPase increases significantly. Increases in AcPase activity were subsequently found sequentially in extracellular sites, in axons in the distal lamina, and finally in the axon terminals. The time course for these increases in AcPase activity correlated well with the time course of the fine-structural pathological changes in the axons. A significant feature of the satellite glia cells is the massive packing of unidirectional microtubules (MTs), running perpendicular to the projections of the R-axons--in the same direction as AcPase transport. The MTs terminate at the glial membrane directly adjacent to the axon. The smooth ER cisternae interdigitate among the MTs and may be structurally connected to them by thin fibrils. Thick-section cytochemistry and stereology were used to reveal the 3-dimensional extent of the AcPase-reactive smooth ER system. Evidence is presented which suggests that this system represents GERL, a specialized region of smooth ER involved in lysosome formation, that in this glial cell appears to function also to export hydrolytic enzymes.