Fluorometric assay of oleate-activated phospholipase D isoenzyme in membranes of rat nervous tissue and human platelets

Phospholipase D plays a key role in the biosynthesis of phosphatidic acid, a second messenger involved in essential cellular processes. Oleate-activated phospholipase D was the first mammalian phospholipase D isoform to be discovered but is the least known. The study was aimed to test a fluorometric method of assessment of oleate-activated phospholipase D activity in different biological materials. The brain cortex of male Wistar rats, cultured rat brain astrocytes, and human platelets were processed to yield plasmatic membranes for experiments. To assess phospholipase D activity the modified fluorometric method was used. Previously, the method was used only to determine H2O2. In this enzyme-coupled assay phospholipase D activity is monitored indirectly using 10-acetyl-3,7-dihydroxyphenoxazine. First, phospholipase D cleaves exogenous phosphatidylcholine to yield choline and phosphatidic acid. Second, choline is oxidized by choline oxidase to betaine and H2O2. Finally, in the presence of horseradish peroxidase, H2O2 reacts with 10-acetyl-3,7-dihydroxyphenoxazine to generate the highly fluorescent product, resorufin. The concentration of resorufin was measured using excitation and emission at 560 nm and 590 nm, respectively. The proposed optimal parameters of the tested assay are 25 µg of rat brain cortex protein, 50 µg of rat brain astrocyte protein, and 50 µg of human platelet protein in a reaction volume of 200 µL, and 2 min enzymatic reaction at 37°C. The fluorometric method may be applied to assay phospholipase D in different biological materials.