Acid hydrolases in the epididymis of normal, castrated, vasectomized, cryptorchid and cryptepididymal rats

With the aim of gaining knowledge about the lysosomal apparatus of the rat epididymis, four acid hydrolases were analysed in homogenates of the whole organ and, in other experiments, in separated segments: proximal and distal caput, corpus and cauda. The activities were similar to those in the liver, and they were 50% recovered in a cytosol of 43 000 g x 60 min. Ten days after castration all segments showed similar changes, the activities of beta-glucuronidase and cathepsin D increased above normal levels while those of DNAase and acid phosphatase were found slightly decreased. After vasectomy region I (caput and corpus) showed decreased beta-glucuronidase activity and increased acid phosphatase activity. The activity of cathepsin D increased in both regions. In cryptorchid rats (90 days) the epididymis greatly decreased in weight, the activities of acid phosphatase and DNAase slightly decreased in region II (cauda) and in region I, respectively. In the abdominal epididymis (90 days) only region II decreased in weight. DNAase activity decreased in region I while cathepsin D did so in both regions. The results showed that a) the enzymes behave quite independently from each other, suggesting the existence of a specific regulation for each of them b) there were characteristic changes in enzymatic activity for each experimental condition.