RIBONUCLEASE ACTIVITIES IN VARIOUS CLASSES OF NUCLEI FROM BOVINE CEREBRUM

Abstract— Nuclei of adult bovine cerebrum were separated by dissection of grey matter from white matter and discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation, into neuron, astrocyte-enriched and oligodendrocyte fractions. The activities of alkaline and acidic RNAses were determined in the different nuclei types. The acidic and alkaline RNAse activities of the neuronal nuclei were much higher than those of the glial nuclei. In each type of nuclei the acidic RNAse activity was lower than the measured alkaline RNAse activity.