EFFECT OF PREGNANCY ON CYTOPLASMIC AND MITOCHONDRIAL ENZYMES IN HUMAN AND ANIMAL MYOMETRIUM

Abstract

ABSTRACT An investigation was made on the influence of pregnancy on the specific activities of cytoplasmic (lactate dehydrogenase2), cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase) and mitochondrial enzymes (glutamate dehydrogenase, mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase, cytochrome-c-oxidase) in the human and animal myometrium. The activities were related to DNA. The specific activities of all the investigated enzymes increased. This rise in activity depended on the cellular localisation of the enzyme. The activity of all enzymes in one cellular compartment changed to the same extent. This change varied according to species. With regard to the human tissue, the increase of the cytoplasmic enzymes was larger than that of the mitochondrial enzymes. In the rat, however, a significantly larger increase of the mitochondrial enzymes was found. The increase in the specific activities of the cytoplasmic enzymes in the human and rat was proportional to the protein-content and to the hypertrophy of the cells. It was concluded that the number of mitochondria or their enzymatic activity increased in both species during pregnancy – in each species, however, to a different extent. The pattern of the LDH-isoenzymes in the myometrium changed in the same manner in the human myometrium as in the rat. The percentage of M subunits of LDH compared to H subunits rose in both cases during pregnancy.