[Comparative characteristics of membrane bound and cytoplasmic monoamine oxidases in human placenta]

Catalytic and physico-chemical properties of human placental monoamine oxidases (MAO) were studied. Both forms of the enzyme, membrane-bound and soluble, exhibited similar properties: optimal activity at pH8.3, equal rate of inhibition with selective MAO inhibitors, identical substrate specificity (the best substrate--serotonin). Some specific differences were found only for cytoplasmic (soluble) MAO: lower affinity for substrates as compared with membrane-bound enzymes, reversible interaction with an inhibitor Lilly 51641 even after long-term preincubation, whereas the mitochondrial MAO bound Lilly 51641 irreversibly. The property of cytoplasmic MAO to form aggregates during storage and/or in gel filtration and concentration did not affect the main catalytic properties of soluble enzyme. Analysis of isoenzyme spectra of membrane-bound and cytoplasmic MAO by means of selective inhibitors and electrophoresis showed that MAO of the two types--A and B were detected in all the subcellular fractions studied. Subunits of MAO of the A type had molecular masses 62, 61 and 61 kDa and of MAO of the B type--51, 55 and 55 kDa in mitochondria, microsomes and cytosol, respectively.