Lysosomal enzyme levels in human amniotic fluid cells in tissue culture. I. α-glucosidase and β-glucosidase

A number of factors which may correlate with the levels of α-glucosidase and β-glucosidase in cultured amniotic fluid cells have been investigated. Fluctuations in enzyme activity occurred as passage numbers increased. Whereas α-glucosidase showed a consistently lower activity in the earlier passages compared to the later ones, the results for β-glucosidase were equivocal. Both enzymes showed an increase in activity correlated with the time taken by the cells to reach confluency in the third passage. When replicate cultures were assayed daily after subculture, neither enzyme showed any change correlated with time. When cultures were grown in parallel in Ham's F10 and Eagle's M.E.M. tissue culture media, the activity of both enzymes was unaffected. Cell strains cultured from serial samples of amniotic fluid from the same woman had differing enzyme levels unrelated to gestational age.