[Kinetic study of the oxidase reaction of ceruloplasmin]

The effects of ionic strength, buffer composition and pH on the oxidase activity of ceruloplasmin isolated from human donor blood were studied. The steady-state kinetics of ceruloplasmin-catalyzed oxidation of organic substrates (pyrocatechine, adrenaline, rho-phenyldiamine) and Fe(II) was analyzed. The relationship between the initial reaction rate and Fe(II) concentration is described by the Michaelis--Menten kinetics, that for organic substrates--by substrate activation or by a scheme which implicates the existence of two catalytic centers in the enzyme molecule. The inhibition of adrenaline oxidation by its reaction product, adrenochrome, is competitive. The reactions studied were shown to occur via the formation of a ternary complex.