Lactate dehydrogenase isozymes as genetic characters in human placentae from selected regions of Poland
Zamorska, L.
Folia Biologica 27(4): 343-353
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0015-5497 PMID: 535637 Document Number: 151214
The overall activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and the activities of heart type (LDH-1) and muscle type (LDH-5) isozymes in full term human placentae from rural and urban industrial regions of southern Poland were histochemically studied. The placentae were always LDH-positive. LDH-1 was as a rule more active than LDH-5 in the syncytiotrophoblast of the villi, cytotrophoblastic islands and decidua cells. In the rural population, placentae in which LDH-1 activity was higher were more numerous than placentae in which LDH-5 activity was higher; an than inverse ratio was found in the urban-industrial population. In several cases pronounced differences in isozymic activity were observed between the fetal and maternal parts of the placentae, including signs of a complete lack of such activity with coexistence overall LDH activity. A positive correlation was found between the smoking habit of pregnant women and the increased LDH and LDH-5 activities in the placentae, which concomitantly showed poor LDH-1 activity. The low LDH-1 activity in the urban-industrial placentae undoubtedly resulted from the influence of environmental factors other than tobacco. A series of interrelations was observed between the LDH, LHD-1 and LDH-5 activities and selected characters of the mothers, the sex of the neonates and the season in which the placentae were collected (winter, summer). The data was interpreted from the viewpoint of genetics and of the adaptive role of the LDH isozyme system.