Alkaline phosphatase as a model for studying metal-protein interactions in pulmonary toxicity

An attempt has been made to study the biochemical properties of lung alkaline phosphatase so that it may serve as a model for measuring the toxicity of air pollutants, especially metals. Lung was shown to be a better source of this enzyme in comparison to other organs in rats. The optimum pH, metal requirements, substrate specificity, and affinity constants were characterized with different substrates, and the effect of different metals was studied. The involvement of zinc in the lung enzyme was not indicated as shown by Sephadex G-200 elution profile of postmitochondrial supernatant of 65Zn-treated animals.