HISTOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF BONE IN NORMAL AND PATHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS With Special Reference to Alkaline Phosphatase, Glycogen and Mucopolysaccharides

The histological investigation of phosphatase localisation (Gomori 1939, Takamatsu 1939), and especially the methods which allow decalcification of hard tissues without causing any appreciable loss of the enzyme (Lorch 1947, Greep, Fischer and Morse 1948, Zorzolli 1948), mark important progress in the study of ossification. The work carried out in normal growing bone, in fractures and in a few pathological processes (Kabat and Furth 1941, Gomori 1943, McKelvie and Mann 1948, Follis and Berthrang 1949, Lorch 1949, Follis 1950, Majno and Rouiller 1951), confirms the relationship of phosphatase activity to calcification and ossification. Follis (1949) correlated the qualitative observations obtained by histochemical techniques and the quantitative chemical determination of enzyme activity in the normally differentiating costal cartilage, providing confirmation for the histochemical results. Gutman el al. (1950) insisted on the importance of glycogen in calcification of epiphysial cartilage. This substance, which is very plentiful in h pertrophic cartilage, disappears abruptly when the cartilage becomes calcified. On the other hand a great number of enzymes and intermediate substances resembling those recognised in the anaerobic glycogenolysis cycle of muscle have been isolated in this zone. For Gutman’s group, the phosphatase would