Comparative activity of sulphatases in human liver on two synthetic substrates.

Ion-exchange chromatography and gel chromatography manifested the presence of three different forms of sulphatase activity in human liver using 4-methylumbelliferyl sulphate as substrate. Studies with the substrate 4-nitrocatechol sulphate and inhibition experiments with AgNO3 were also performed on these three different forms of sulphatases. This makes it possible to identify the three forms as arylsulphatase A, B, and C. The conclusion is drawn that the 4-methylumbelliferyl sulphate substrate is inadequate to measure the lysosomal arylsulphatases A and B, but it could be used to measure the microsomal arylsulphatase C.