Studies on sulphatases. 9. The arylsulphatases of mammalian livers

Abstract

The presence of 2 arylsulfatases in the livers of rat, ox, rabbit and mouse was shown. The enzymes can be distinguished by the ready solubility of one of them ("soluble") after disruption of the mitochondria by acetone-drying, incubation in hyper- and hypo-tonic solutions or alternative freezing and thawing. In the rat the "insoluble" enzyme is localized in the microsomes of the liver cell and the "soluble" enzyme is found mainly in the mitochondria. The "insoluble" enzyme has a high affinity for p-nitrophenyl and p-acetylphenyl sul-fates while the "soluble" enzyme has a low affinity for these substrates but a high activity towards nitrocatechol sulfate. The "soluble" enzyme of rat liver was further separated into 2 enzymes which are comparable to sulfatases A and B of ox liver (Roy, 1954). The work of previous authors is discussed in the light of these findings.