Novel prostaglandin dehydrogenase in rat skin.

Present evidence suggests that skin is an important organ of prostaglandin metabolism. To clarify its role, the basic kinetics of 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (PGDH) from rat skin were investigated with either NAD+ of NADP+ as co-substrate. Prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were used as substrates and preliminary studies were made of the inhibitory effects of the reduced co-substrates NADH and NADPH. A radiochemical assay was used in which [3H]PGF2 alpha or [14C]PGE2 were incubated with high-speed supernatant of rat skin homogenates. The substrate and products were then extracted by solvent partition, separated by t.l.c. and quantified by liquid-scintillation counting. At linear reaction rates and at an NAD+ concentration of 10 mM the mean apparent Km for PGF2 alpha was 24 microM with a mean apparent Vmax. of 9.8 nmol/s per litre of reaction mixture. For PGE2 the mean apparent Km was 8 microM, with a mean apparent Vmax, of 2.7 nmol/s per litre of reaction mixture. With NADP+ as a co-substrate at a concentration of 5 mM a mean apparent Km of 23 microM was obtained for PGF2 alpha with a mean apparent Vmax. of 5.2 nmol/s per litre. For PGE2 values of 7.5 microM and 3.0 nmol/s per litre were obtained respectively. These results show that skin contains NAD+- and NADP+-dependent PGDH. An important finding was that the NADP+-linked enzyme gave Km values for PGE2 that were considerably lower than those reported for NADP+-linked PGDH from other tissues. Furthermore, preliminary inhibition studies with the NAD+-linked PGDH system indicate that this enzyme is not only inhibited by NADH, but also by NADPH, a property not previously reported for NAD+-linked PGDH derived from other tissues.