It was reported previously (1) that granules ("small droplets") with dim e t e r s from 0.5 to 1.5 #, showing high acid phosphatase activity, could be isolated from the homogenate of the kidneys of normal rats. 1 They are concentrated in a thin, dark brown layer at the bottom of the mitochondrial sediment when mitochondria are prepared according to Hogeboom, Schneider, and Palade (2). It has been suggested (1) that these granules may be related to "secretory granules" and "Golgi bodies" and to fractions rich in add phosphatase which had been isolated from the cells of the liver of the rat by Palade (3), Novikoff, Podber, Ryan, and Noe (4), and Berthet el al. (5). De Duve et al. (6) have shown recently that this liver fraction is distinct from the mitochondrial fraction and that acid phosphatase, ~-glucuronidase, ribonuclease, desoxyribonudease, and cathepsin are concentrated in it. It will be shown that the same enzymes are also highly concentrated in the granules isolated from the cells of the kidney of the rat. Since these "droplets" from the kidney cells were found to vary in size over a wide range, 3 fractions with granules of different diameters have been isolated and their enzyme content compared.
Materials and MethodsMale rats of the Sherman strain, 400 to 500 gin. in weight, were used. The kidneys were removed under ether anesthesia and were chilled immediately; cooling was applied in all further manipulations. The cortices, after removal of the capsules and medullae, were homogenized in 0.88 ~ sucrose solution (2) in a motor-driven homogenizer with teflon pestle, and the homogenate was filtered through 2 layers of cheese-cloth.