Histochemical model studies of enzyme activity after thermal damage

The reliability of histochemical determinations of the enzyme activity after thermal damage has been studied with the aid of two model systems. Polyacrylamide films and erythrocyte ghosts containing either beta-glucuronidase or alkaline phosphatase, were submitted to heating and the activities retained were assessed both biochemically and histochemically. For the enzymes studied, the results show that tissue alterations induced by heat can influence histochemical reaction procedures, and that with these model systems, factors which are important for the histochemical quantitation of enzyme activities in thermally damaged tissues can be evaluated quantitatively. Potentialities of these model systems in the study of evaluating thermal damage through histochemical enzyme activity determinations, are discussed.