Histochemical Demonstration of the Resorption of Xylose from Small Intestine

Abstract

THE high solubility of monosaccharides makes the topochemical demonstration of these substances in animal cells and tissues very difficult. In 1948, Okamoto, Kadota and Aoyama¹ described a method for the histochemical demonstration of sugars in tissue which is based on the insolubility of barium–glucose and barium–lactose in methyl alcohol. Gomori² showed that the specificity of this method was not sufficiently tested and the topochemical demonstration was unlikely to be very accurate. Müller³ carried out tests with filter paper in order to discover whether it was possible to show the distribution of glucose by this method, and found a high specificity after fixation in a saturated solution of barium hydroxide in methyl alcohol. In experiments with animal tissues fixed at −10° C for 24 h he obtained a strong reaction, in liver cells, but kidney cells were negative. Using freezing substitution with saturated barium hydroxide–methyl alcohol solution, Geyer⁴ described the distribution of glucose in the kidney, and Stiller⁵ was able to demonstrate the presence of glucose in the mature human placenta using this modification. Ehrenbrand⁶ used cold microtome sections for the localization of glucose and probable galactose in the secreting mammary gland of hamsters.