Age-dependent properties of acid & alkaline DNases in chick brain.
N INDRAPAL SINGH, K P SHRIVASTAW, C S PAULOSE & K SUBBA RAO Neurochemistry Laboratory, School of Life Sciences , University of Hyderabad , Hyderabad 500 134 Received 21 May 1981; revised 13 November 1981 Acid and alkaline DNase activities in partially purified preparations from young and old chick brain were measured. The specific activity of acid DNase from old brain was lower by about 50% than that of enzyme from young brain , whereas alkaline DNase exhibited only marginal difference in activity of the two preparations . Study of various properties , viz. heat-stability and effect of exogenous compounds like Mg=', Hgl', Zn=', PHM B , on these enzymes revealed that while acid DNase in old brain is more susceptible to heat and heavy metal ion inhibition , alkaline DNase is devoid of any age-dependent variation in its properties.