Histochemical observations have been made by the Hayashi simultaneous coupling method (naphtol AS-BI glucuronide-hexazonium pararosanilin) on the localization of $\beta$-glucuronidase in the growing and regressing chick embryo mesonephros. The observed aspects of cellular degeneration are the formation of cytolysomes and of masses due to their aggregation; in more advanced stages, and particularly in the residual tubules which persist even after hatching, the enzyme is localized in still larger masses; in the connective tissue the reaction is strongly positive in the phagocytic cells. These aspects, similar to those previously observed for the acid phosphatase, demonstrate the direct intervention of lysosomal $\beta$-glucuronidase in the auto and heterolytic processes which occur in the involution of the intermediate kidney. Considering the dual localization of the enzyme (in lysosomes and in endoplasmic reticulum), we are now working on the same material-with different histochemical methods-to elucidate the relationship between the two different activities in the growth and regression.
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Con il contributo del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali