Sensitivity of glucose 6-phosphatase activity to glutaraldehyde

The effect of glutaraldehyde fixation on glucose 6-phosphatase activity in mouse liver was investigated. After transparenchymal perfusion with 2% glutaraldehyde for 1.5 minutes, the activity of the recovered enzyme was higher than those reported for acid phosphatase and aryl sulfatase activities after fixation under similar condition, and an abundant deposition of reaction product was observed in hepatocytes. Subsequent immersion in the same fixative solution for 30 minutes at 4°C resulted in only a slight decrease in the activity. However, the activity was almost completely destroyed after 3 hours of immersion fixation at 4°C following the perfusion. Therefore, the enzyme can be said to be aldehyde-sensitive when a long fixation time is used, but not aldehyde-sensitive during a short fixation time.