Odontoblast alkaline phosphatases and Ca2+ transport.

The same isoenzyme of nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (APase), assayed with p-nitrophenylphosphate (p-NPP), was shown be present in different calcifying tissues, bone, calcifying cartilage, odontoblasts and enamel organ. Indications were also found that the enzymatic degradation of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) in calcifying tissues is mediated by APase. By using specific APase inhibitors, it was shown that two enzymes capable of degrading ATP exist. These were characterized in dentinogenically active odontoblasts, and it was concluded that one is the classical APase, the other is a Ca2+ and Mg2+ activated ATPase, named Ca2+-ATPase. The two phosphatases were solubilized from odontoblasts and separated. The localization of APase and Ca2+-ATPase in odontoblasts was investigated by subcellular fractionation and EM histochemistry. Routine methods for fixation were found to almost completely inactivate the enzymes. By using a mild fixation technique that preserved 80% of the enzyme activity, the main localization for both APase and Ca2+-ATPase was found to be in the membranes of intercellular vesicles located in the cell body and odontoblasts process. No activity was found in the cell membranes. It is concluded that there are at least two enzymes able to degrade phosphate compounds at alkaline pH in hard tissue forming cells. One is the nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (APase; EC 3. 1. 3. 1), which is active against p-NPP, PPi, glycerophosphates and ATP among other substrates. The other is a more specific Ca2+-ATPase (EC 3. 6. 1. 3). There seems to be an intimate relation between these two enzymes in the tissue. The function of APase in biological calcification is still obscure. In contrast, the finding of an ATP dependent, intravesicularly directed, transmembranous Ca2+-transport in vesicles derived from the microsomal fraction of odontoblasts may explain the role of Ca2+-ATPase.