Histochemical study of alkaline phosphatase in primary human brain tumors: diagnostic implications for meningiomas and neurinomas.

Histochemical analysis of frozen, thin sections revealed the distribution of alkaline phosphatase (ALPase) in 47 primary intracranial neoplasms in humans. The cytoplasm of meningioma cells exhibited the strongest ALPase reactivity. Pretreatment of these materials by levamisol indicated that the isozymes of ALPase had the characteristic liver-bone-kidney form. In meningiomas and astrocytomas, there was no particular relationship between ALPase activity and malignancy. In neurinomas, there was weak ALPase reactivity in a few neoplastic cells. These findings are suggestive of diagnostic implications for fibroblastic meningiomas and neurinomas at the light microscopic level.