A Chemical and Histochemical study of the Technic for acid Phosphatase

A chemical and histochemical study of Gomori's acid phosphatase technic showed that the causes of its unreliability were: (1) that fixation and other steps of histological procedure inactivate the enzyme to a great extent; (2) the enzyme may diffuse, as demonstrated in frozen sections of acetone-fixed material; and (3) some absorption of lead by the sections takes place. Much of this unreliability is avoided, however, by maintaining as low a temperature as possible during fixation and dehydration, with exposure to the temperature of the paraffin oven for the shortest possible length of time. The relative insolubility and thermo-stability of the enzyme, moreover, indicate the possibility of devising a more satisfactory technic in the future.