Quantitative cytochemistry: a precise form of cellular biochemistry

Abstract

Origins of quantitative cytochemistry It is recorded (Needham & Baldwin, 1949, p. 245), that almost 100 years ago, a distinguished organic chemist tried to divert Gowland Hopkins' interest in biochemistry : 'The chemistry of the living? That is the chemistry of protoplasm; that is superchemistry; seek, my young friend, for other ambitions'. This attitude was related to the concept that the chemistry of the whole, or of the cell or of protoplasm was likely to be greater than the sum of its parts, and to the old taunt 'that when the chemist touches living matter it immediately becomes dead matter' (Needham & Baldwin, 1949, p. 245). In its present form, this view would consider studies on the chemistry of substances isolated and purified from once-living matter, simply as an extension of organic chemistry. But, as emphasized forcibly by Gowland Hopkins (Needham & Baldwin, 1949, p. 239), there can be no doubt that 'illuminating knowledge of wholes has been gained by the study of parts'. In fact, today there can be no doubt that a great deal of knowledge of cellular biochemistry has come from 'organic-chemical' biochemistry. For all that, over many years, major scientists have sought for a more biological form of biochemistry, or a more truly cellular biochemistry, or 'microbiochemistry'. Among the earliest in this field of endeavour were Linderstram-Lang and Holter, in the Carlsberg Laboratories in Copenhagen (as reviewed by Holter & Max Maller, 1976). This began with the development of constriction micropipettes for analysing proteolytic activity in minute samples, and was most noted for the development of Cartesian diver respirometry (Holter, 1943; Linderstrem-Lang, 1943) with which the respiration of the enucleated half of an amoeba could be compared with that of the other half (Holter et a/., 1956). One of the many major developments made by this group was that of the cryostat microtome (Linderstrem-Lang & Mogensen, 1938). During the same period, Brachet, in Brussels, used cytochemical procedures in his now classical studies on chemical embryology and on the nucleic acids (reviewed in Brachet, 1950). The optical approach to truly cellular biochemistry was pioneered by Caspersson, at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (e.g. Caspersson, 1936, 1940, 1947, 1950). He laid the physical basis for the measurement of chromophores in individual cells and developed U.V. microspectrophotometry to measure the content of nucleic acids and of proteins in single cells. This group then used soft X-rays for determining the mass of structures within cells (e.g. Engstrom & Lindstrom, 1958); they initiated the X-ray analysis of metal ions in tissue sections (e.g. Engstrom, 1946, 1962). This approach was further expanded and developed at King's College, London, under Sir John Randall (as described by Chayen & Denby, 1968). The virtually simultaneous demonstration, by Takamatsu (1939) and by Gomori (1939), that enzymic activity in individual cells could be demonstrated by means of chromogenic reactions, opened new vistas in cellular...

Identifying and characterizing the joint cavity‐forming cell

“…It is envisioned that the wider application of the rigorous and quantitative cytochemical techniques developed by Chayen and co-workers to the intricate and rapidly changing micro-environment of the developing limb will be a powerful tool allowing precise dissection of specific changes in cell behaviour, at a time when phenotypic cellular complexity is being established. 33 …”

Alterations in hyaluronan synthesis during developing joint cavitation.

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Effects of physiological concentrations of parathyroid hormone on acid phosphatase activity in cultured rat bone cells

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