A Quantitative Mapping of Acid Phosphatase in the Brain of the Rhesus Monkey.

THE distribution of acid phosphatase in the central nervous system as demonstrated by histochemical methods has been investigated by LANDOW, KABAT and NEWMAN (1942), WISLOCKI and DEMPSEY (1948), and by SHIMIZU (1950) in comparative studies that included mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, cats and chickens. Numerous papers deal with the cytological distribution of acid phosphatase in selected regions of the brain of various species, but little attention has been given to gradations of enzyme activity among those regions. The present paper reports a mapping of acid phosphatase activity in the brain of the rhesus monkey. A quantitative histochemical method was used, based upon spectrophotometric measurements of dye extracts from standard size tissue discs taken from brain sections that had been incubated with a substrate for acid phosphatase. Previous mappings of oxidative enzymes (FRIEDE, 1961), and particularly a mapping of lactate dehydrogenase in the brain of the rhesus monkey (FRIEDE and FLEMING, 1963), facilitate comparison of enzyme patterns.