Isoenzymes of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase in kidney cortex and urine of normal and nephritic rats.

Induction of acute Heyman nephritis in rats gave a significant increase in the urinary excretion of protein (p less than 0.001) and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG; p less than 0.01) 14 days after injection of antibody. The isoelectric points (IP) of NAG were studied by chromatofocusing of the urine, serum and various lysosomal populations purified from kidney cortex homogenates of normal and nephritic rats. The chromatofocusing profiles for serum NAG (IP = 5.8) were totally different from the patterns found in normal and nephritic urines. The acidic IPs of NAG in normal urine (IP = 5.0) were changed into slightly more basic values in nephritic urine (IP = 5.15). Similar changes were also demonstrated in normal urine after acidification and prolonged incubation. The chromatofocusing profile obtained for NAG in the large, dense lysosomes was almost identical to the pattern observed in nephritic urine and demonstrated IPs for NAG in a slightly more basic pH area than observed for small and medium-sized lysosomes. The difference in IP in normal and nephritic urines may therefore be due to an increased autolytic degradation of NAG or excretion of the enzyme from different populations of lysosomes.