Arylsulfatase A activity and electrophoretic banding patterns from isolated human blood fractions

Arylsulfatase A (ASA) activity was studied from five blood fractions, leukocytes plus platelets (LKPL), leukocytes (LK), neutrophils (N), lymphocytes (LYM), and platelets (PL). No significant difference was found among the mean ASA specific activity values for the fractions. Electrophoretic examination revealed four distinct activity bands for the LKPL and PL fractions, while the LK, N, and LYM fractions showed only a single, broad peak, which indicates that the four-band pattern is associated with enzyme obtained from platelets. The PL fraction gave a clearer, more distinct banding pattern than the other four fractions. This clearly resolved electrophoretic banding pattern of ASA from pure platelet preparations was demonstrated for variant human ASA as well. These findings may be significant to future work investigating the biochemical genetics of ASA.