The action of the phosphatases of human brain on lipid phosphate esters.

Much work, using both histochemical and standard biochemical techniques, has been carried out on the phosphatases of peripheral nerve. It is known that this tissue contains both alkaline (Landow, Kabat, and Newman, 1942) and acid phosphatases (Wolf, Kabat, and Newman, 1943), and the changes in the levels of these enzymes in nerves undergoing Wallerian degeneration following transection have been studied by several groups of investigators (see Hollinger, Rossiter, and Upmalis, 1952).