Studies of the development of basic, neutral and acidic isoenzymes of glutathione S-transferase in human liver, adrenal, kidney and spleen.

The ontogeny of basic, near-neutral and acidic glutathione S-transferase isoenzymes was studied by using chromatofocusing and ion-exchange chromatography. These isoenzyme sets demonstrated tissue-specific patterns of expression. For example, whereas basic isoenzymes were identified in all liver and adrenal cytosols obtained after 10 weeks gestation, these forms were not detected in kidney until 10 weeks post-natal age and in spleen until about 40 weeks post-natal age. Our data indicate that the basic monomers B1 and B2 are present in liver cytosol at 21 weeks gestation. Expression of the near-neutral isoenzymes was usually weak; for example, they were not generally expressed in liver until 30 weeks gestation, and no developmental patterns in their expression could be identified in adrenal, kidney and spleen. The acidic isoenzymes were usually strongly expressed in adrenal, kidney and spleen, although there was a decline in the level of expression in kidney after birth.