A characteristic of the human lysosomal disorder I-cell disease is an abnormal excretion of most lysosomal hydrolases, including beta-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase (EC 3.2.1.30; beta-hexosaminidase) by cultured skin fibroblasts. Treatment of I-cell cultures with cycloheximide or tunicamycin demonstrated that (1) I-cell fibroblasts rapidly excrete all newly synthesized beta-hexosaminidase, (2) two qualitatively distinct pools of beta-hexosaminidase isoenzymes exist inside I-cell fibroblasts, one of which is a rapid-turnover excretory pool, and (3) the induction of an abnormal glycosylation of beta-hexosaminidase by tunicamycin in normal or I-cell fibroblast cultures does not affect subsequent excretion of the enzyme.
