Ultrastructural localization of acid phosphatase activity in the small intestinal absorptive cells of postnatal rats

Summary The ultrastructural localization of acid phosphatase activity was investigated in ultrathin (0.05 m) and semithin (0.5 m) sections of the small intestinal epithelial cells of postnatal rats. Until around the 15th day of neonatal life acid phosphatase activity in the duodenal and jejunal epithelial cells was observed on the microvillous membrane, the membrane of the tubulo-vacuolar system, the lateral cell membrane, the lysosomes, the Golgi apparatus and the GERL of Novikoff (1963). After about the 15th neonatal day, the tubulo-vacuolar system enzyme disappeared from both cells. Acid phosphatase activity then became localized on the microvillous membrane, the lateral cell membrane, the lysosomes, the Golgi apparatus, and the GERL, as in adult rats. During the suckling period, acid phosphatase in the ileal cells could be seen on the microvillous membrane, the lateral cell membrane, the Golgi apparatus, the GERL, the membrane of tubulo-vacuolar system and the supranuclear vacuole. At weaning, however, the tubulovacuolar system and the supranuclear vacuole enzyme disappeared, and only the lysosomes and the GERL of these cells showed acid phosphatase activity, as in the adult rat. It was concluded that the acid-phosphatase-containing tubulo-vacuolar system and the supranuclear vacuole in the epithelial cells of the distal intestine of suckling rats may possess a strong phagolysosomal function as well as having an absorptive capacity.