Ultrastructural localization of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphatase (NADPase) activity to the intermediate saccules of the Golgi apparatus in rat incisor ameloblasts.

Cytochemical evidence for the existence of a Golgi-associated phosphatase activity that hydrolyzes nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) at acid pH in rat incisor ameloblasts was obtained by incubating sections from glutaraldehyde-fixed teeth in a medium containing NADP as substrate and lead ions as capture agent. Following incubation for 1 hr at 37 degrees C and pH 5.0, the Golgi saccules situated between those at the cis (immature) and trans (mature) faces of the ameloblast Golgi apparatus were marked by reaction product with the heaviest deposit in the middle saccule. Reaction product was otherwise seen in trace amounts only over some elements of the GERL system as well as a few lysosomal dense bodies and immature secretory granules. Control experiments established that the selective staining of intermediate Golgi saccules at pH 5.0 could only be duplicated by using substrates that resembled the complete NADP molecule, and not just the portion containing the adenosine 2'-monophosphate group. As well, no deposits of reaction product were seen within the Golgi saccules of ameloblasts incubated at pH 5.0 with nictoinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) as the substrate or that were incubated at pH 7.2 or pH 9.0 with NADP as the substrate. It was concluded that a specific, acid-NADPase activity is present in the intermediate Golgi saccules of secretory ameloblasts. Preliminary observations on other cells suggest that the localization of NADPase activity to Golgi saccules may constitute a general phenomenon.