[Kinetics of prostaglandin H2 degradation. A method of determining prostaglandin H-convertase activity]

The quantitative study of the processes that accompany nonenzymatic degradation of prostaglandin H2 has been carried out. The thiobarbituric acid test which shows the content of malonic dialdehyde in the reaction mixture has been used to study kinetics of the degradation. The apparent rate constants of this process have been pH-independent over the pH-range 5,5-9,5, and the calculated conversion halftime changes from 5,8 to 3,6 min at these pH values. Thromboxane synthetase from human platelets has been chosen to demonstrate the possibility of application of thiobarbituric acid test for determination of the activity of prostaglandin endoperoxide convertase. It has been shown that the apparent rate constant of the reaction in the presence of the enzyme is the linear function of its concentration.