The presence of SOD 1 and GSH-Px in bovine retained and properly released foetal membranes.

The maintenance of antioxidative/oxidative balance is crucial for cellular and extracellular environment. That is why antioxidative enzymes express their activity in different isoforms in different cell compartments and extracellular space. The aim of study was to verify the results of previous experiment on activities of antioxidative enzymes by the determination of their enzymatic proteins in bovine placental tissues by Western blotting technique. Moreover, the presence of particular isoenzymes was detected and differentiated. Homogenates of maternal and foetal part of both properly released and retained bovine placenta were subjected to PAGE electrophoresis in non-reducing and reducing conditions and Western blotting with appropriate antibodies against superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). Electrophoresis allowed for the detection of protein bands of molecular weight related to CuZn-SOD as well as cGSH-Px isoenzymes. The reaction with appropriate antibodies confirmed this. Densitometric analysis, although semi-quantitative, allowed for the observation of trends in differences in antioxidative enzyme proteins, which may partly confirm previously described results in cases of retained and released placenta. Local antioxidative enzymatic mechanisms in bovine placental tissues are represented by CuZn-SOD and cGSH-Px, which show the changes in their expression during improper placental release.