Studies on the phenazine methosulphate-tetrazolium salt capture reaction in NAD(P)+-dependent dehydrogenase cytochemistry. I. Localization artefacts caused by the escape of reduced co-enzyme during cytochemical reactions for NAD(P)+-dependent dehydrogenases.

The correct localization of oxidative enzymes using cytochemical tetrazolium methods, in which low molecular weight electron carriers such as NAD(P)H and reduced phenazine methosulphate (PMSH) are used, can be endangered by the escape of the reduced intermediates before they react to form the insoluble formazan at the true enzyme-containing sites. To investigate this phenomenon, the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase reaction was studied in fixed erythrocytes which, because of their microscopic dimensions, are well-suited for studying the loss of intermediates. A mixture of active and heat-inactivated fixed erythrocytes was incubated in a PMS-supplemented medium for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. The cytophotometric histograms showed that the final formazan precipitate was equally distributed over both active and inactivated cells. When bovine serum albumin was added to the medium, all the formazan was found to be bound to this protein and the erythrocytes remained essentially unstained. The false localization in this system could be explained by an unfavourable balance between the capture of electrons carried by NADPH within the erythrocyte and the diffusion of NADPH out of the erythrocyte. The rate constant of NADPH oxidation was determined, as was also the diffusion constant of NADPH in a protein matrix. Substituting the data obtained into formulae derived from the enzyme cytochemical localization theory of Holt & O'Sullivan (1958), it was calculated that the capture reaction was highly deficient and, theoretically, less than 1% of the total amount of formazan produced was localized within the erythrocyte which explains the false localization observed. The importance of these findings for the cytochemical demonstration of NAD(P)+-dependent dehydrogenases in cells and electropherograms is briefly discussed.