Abstract
The activity of neuraminidase prepared from the mucinase complex of Vibrio cholerae was measured by a new, semi-quantitative goblet-cell assay. The counts of normal, alcianophilic, sialomucin-containing goblet cells (purple-stained) and neutral mucosubstance-containing goblet cells (magenta-stained) in serial sections of ileum were compared before and after neuraminidase treatment. The procedure provides a more natural assessment of the action of V. cholerae neuraminidase on the viscous intestinal mucus.