Diethyl Pyrocarbonate Is an Inhibitor of Cardiac, Intestinal and Renal Ecto-ATPase

Abstract

The inhibitory effect of diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC) on ecto-ATPase activity was evaluated in the rat cardiac muscle, small intestine and kidney using correlated biochemical and histocytochemical methodologies. The activity of the enzyme decreased in nonlinear proportion in correlation with increase of concentrations of DEPC. Essentially all ecto-ATPase activity was abolished in response to 1.0 mM DEPC in biochemical assays. No reaction product was detected using both confocal and electron microscopy when the tissues were pre-incubated with 1.0 mM DEPC. The present results show that DEPC can be reliably applied to substantiate the specificity of the demonstration of ecto-ATPase activity both biochemically and histocytochemically.