Localization of dipeptidylpeptidase IV was studied in the spinal cord meninges and peripheral nerve coverings of fetal and postnatal rats. In the same sections, the localization of alkaline phosphatase was monitored. In the prenatal period, dipeptidylpeptidase (DPP) IV activity in the differentiating meninges appeared at the time of cerebrospinal fluid spaces formation (on day 16 in the cervical region and on day 18 in the lumbar region). In adult animals DPP IV was found in cells of those meningeal lamellae which delineated the cerebrospinal fluid spaces (the outer, intermediate and inner lamellae), in the perineurium, in Schwann cells and in some fibroblasts of the bulk of dura mater. It is suggested that DPP IV plays a role in the metabolism of neuropeptides by their interaction with cerebrospinal fluid. Alkaline phosphatase activity was detectable earlier than DPP IV activity. Positivity was first observed in some cells of the meninx primitiva and, later on, in the ectomeninx and also in the differentiating endomeninx where it disappeared postnatally. The developing ectomeninx exhibited activities of both enzymes. Alkaline phosphatase occupied its external layers, while DPP IV was localized in its inner layers. This enzymatic heterogeneity of the ectomeningeal layers suggests that the ectomeninx gives rise not only to dura mater (which in adult animals exhibits alkaline phosphatase activity) but also to the outer arachnoid layer (positive for DPP IV in adult rats).

Department of Anatomy Charles University Prague Czechoslovakia

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