DIFFERENTIAL DETERMINATION OF HEXOSAMINIDASES A AND B AND OF TWO FORMS OF β-GALACTOSIDASE,IN THE LAYERS OF THE HUMAN CEREBELLUM1

—In order to determine whether or not various histological elements of the nervous system may differ in their relative content of hexosaminidase A and B (O'Brien , Okada , Chen and Fillerup , 1970) and in the‘acid’and‘neutral’forms of β-galactosidase (Ho and O'Brien , 1971), these isoenzymes were determined separately in the layers of human cerebellum. The proportion of the heat-stable hexosaminidase B was greater in the granular layer than in the molecular layer or underlying white matter. The activity of the‘neutral’form of β-galactosidase was very low compared to the‘acid’type, but its distribution was similar.