Abstract:
Enzyme histochemical studies have been carried out on the trophoblast o f normal placentae
by Wislocki and Dempsey (1945), Wachstein, Meagher and Orit z (1963), Jeacock and
Morris (1963) and Curzen (1965). There arc a few reports o f similar investigations on
hydatidiform moles and choriocarcinomas. Amon g these are the papers o f (a) Bur, Hertig,
Makay and Adams (1962) who looked for phosphatases, non-specific esterase and 5-nucleotidase (b) Jirasek and Votja (1965) who investigated lactic dehydrogenase and (c) Mcka y (1966)
who detected hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases in hydatidiform moles. There are no
reports of attempts to demonstrate leucine aminopeptidasc histochemically in the trophoblastic elements of hydatidiform moles or choriocarcinomas and no enzyme histochemical
studies have been done on trophoblastic material recovered from Ceylonese. As such in
this preliminary investigation an attempt was made to look for acid phosphatase, nonspecific esterase and leucine aminopeptidasc in normal full term placentae, hydatidiform
moles, and choriocarcinomas
