Comparative Studies on Subcellular Organelles and Their Marker Enzymes in Selected Marine Animal Species and in the Rat

摘要

The concentration of several marker enzymes for subcellular organelles has been determined in some marine animal species, which specifically accumulate heavy metals or radionuclides. The dependence of the enzyme activity on the incubation conditions was tested as well as the integrity of the lysosomes after cell homogenization. In several cases, significant differences in the enzyme concentrations between the animal species were observed. The data indicate subcellular studies of the heavy metal accumulation in marine invertebrates require more sophisticated methods for the preservation of the lysosomes, which seem to be much more fragile than in mammalien systems. In addition, several of the marker enzymes used for mammalian organelles appear to be unsuitable for marine invertebrates. (ERA citation 08:008291)