A quantitative study of the effects of different grades of polyvinyl alcohol on the activities of certain enzymes in unfixed tissue sections.

Different grades of the colloid stabilizer, polyvinyl alcohol, used for protecting unfixed cryostat sections during cytochemical reactions, may have different effects on enzymatic activity. The influence of three grades of polyvinyl alcohol on the activities of "soluble", membrane-bound and membrane-enclosed enzymes has been investigated in unfixed sections; the activities were measured microdensitometrically. The largest molecular weight polyvinyl alcohol (G18/140, mol. wt. about 90 000) did not retain glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in sections of rat liver even when used at the maximum convenient concentration (12%); G04/140 and M05/140 (molecular weights of 15 000 and 25 000 respectively) retained this soluble enzyme if used at concentrations of 30 and 20% respectively. At these concentrations, lactate dehydrogenase activity was apparently decreased when G04/140 and M05/140 were used; this diminished activity has been shown to be due to the need to establish optimal concentrations of reactants for each grade of polyvinyl alcohol and for each reaction. When optimal concentrations of reactants were used, the activities of this enzyme in the presence of each grade of polyvinyl alcohol were identical. The presence of any type of polyvinyl alcohol did not influence the activities of mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase or of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum enzyme, delta5,3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. However, the presence of polyvinyl alcohol improved the state of the section.