Brain but not retinal glial cells have carbonic anhydrase activity in the honeybee drone.

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity was localized histochemically in the retina and brain of the honeybee drone. A positive reaction that could be inhibited with 10(-5) M acetazolamide was found only in brain glial cells such as those in the lamina and medulla of the optic lobes. In the retina, neither the photoreceptors nor the pigmented glial cells showed CA activity. Hence, there is a marked difference between retinal and brain glial cells with respect to those functions thought to be performed by CA. This study extends the range of tissues in which CA has been shown to be localized in glial cells, but the absence of CA from the retina will impose constraints on a general explanation of the role of CA in nervous tissue.