Alkaline Phosphatase in Taste Buds and Nasal Mucosa

Abstract

THE application of Gomori‘s (1939) technique for the demonstration of alkaline phospho-mono-esterase to various organs and tissues of the body^{1, 2, 3}showed the enzyme to be located in many hitherto unsuspected sites. In view of its association with the absorptive part of the alimentary tract, and since the process of tasting and smelling appear to involve an absorptive process, it was considered desirable to test for phosphatase in taste buds and olfactory mucosa. Pieces of tongue of bat (Nyctalus noctula), mouse, rabbit, monkey (Cercopithecus griseus) and human being, and pieces of mouse, rabbit and human olfactory and nasal (respiratory) epithelium were therefore treated by Gomori‘s technique.