Purification and characterization of membrane-bound phospholipase A2 from rat platelets

Phospholipase A2 was solubilized from rat platelet membrane by 1 M KCl and purified to near homogeneity on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and HPLC. The characteristics of the purified membrane-bound enzyme were compared with those of phospholipase A2 released from thrombin-stimulated rat platelets (Horigome, K., Hayakawa, M., Inoue, K., & Nojima, S. (1987) J. Biochem. 101, 625-631). The molecular weights, elution profiles on reversed-phase HPLC, and NH2-terminal sequences were identical for the two enzymes. Other characteristics of the two enzymes, such as specific activity, substrate specificity, pH optimum, Ca2+ requirement, heat lability, and sensitivity to p-bromophenacyl bromide were also indistinguishable. These findings suggest that both enzymes share a common structure.