Uridine 5'-diphosphate galactose: glycoprotein galactosyl transferase activity in exfoliated bladder epithelial cells in rats fed N-(4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazolyl) formamide.

Urine samples of normal male Fischer rats or rats fed 0.2% N-[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazolyl]formamide for 6,8 or 30 weeks were collected and centrifuged 50 weeks after beginning treatment. After being sonicated and assayed (with purified desialylated ovine submaxillary mucin as acceptor glycoprotein), the exfoliated bladder cells obtained from the urines of treated rats showed uridine 5'-diphosphate galactose:glycoprotein transferase activity. The specific enzymatic activity of the enzyme from cells of 30-week-treated rats was about 10 times higher than from normal rats. The enzyme from cells of hyperplastic rats (treated 6 or 8 weeks) was only slightly higher in specific activity than that of normal rats. A similar was obtained at a later stage of bladder tumor induction, when the urines from 30-week-treated rats contained blood. A correction was made for protein contributed by the blood clot. The possibility that the blood clot contributed galactosyl transferase activity was excluded. Activity of the enzyme was detected in normal rat bladder tissue and in normal human urine.