The Immunohistochemical and in situ Hybridization Studies on Hepatic Peroxisomes

Abstract

The structure of hepatic peroxisomes has been studied by electron microscopy employing histochemical techniques. The recent progress of histochemical techniques, immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization, made it possible to visualize not only intralobular and intracellular but also the intracell organellar localization of various enzymes or proteins. These techniques were applied to normal and pathological liver tissues and the localization of catalase, acylCoA oxidase (AOX), bifunctional protein, 3ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, L-α-hydroxy acid oxidase (isozyme B), and glycolate oxidase (isozyme A), D-amino acid oxidase, peroxisome specific membrane polypeptides (70, 26, and 22 kDa PMPs) and allantoinase were visualized. The present study describes our recent findings on the structure of hepatic peroxisomes obtained by histochemical techniques, especially by the protein A-gold technique.