Abstract
1. A fraction enriched in lysosomes was prepared by centrifugation from the livers of rats that had been injected 0.5h before death with (125)I-labelled albumin. When suspended in sucrose-protected buffer, pH7.4, and incubated at 22 degrees C for 2h, the particles progressively released iodotyrosine into the medium. Albumin digestion did not occur if the particles were subjected to treatments known to break lysosomes or if particles from uninjected rats were incubated in medium containing (125)I-labelled albumin. It is concluded that the observed production of iodotyrosine results from protein hydrolysis within intact heterolysosomes. 2. Particles from rats pre-treated with Trypan Blue, suramin or aurothiomalate released iodotyrosine more slowly than controls. Since these compounds are enzyme inhibitors that concentrate in liver lysosomes after administration in vivo, their effect is ascribed to intralysosomal inhibition of proteolysis. The doses used did not decrease endocytosis of albumin into liver or cause increased lysosome breakage during incubation, thus allowing some alternative explanations of the decreased proteolysis to be eliminated. Particulate carbon, a non-inhibitor that also concentrates in lysosomes, did not affect albumin hydrolysis.