Monolayer Techniques for Studying Lipase Kinetics

Kinetic analyses of lipases and phospholipases must take into account the fact that these enzymes generally catalyze their reactions at a lipid-water interface as opposed to catalysis in a monophasic aqueous environment. This chapter discusses the application of an important tool in the kinetic modeling of these unique enzymes, the monolayer technique. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of kinetic modeling as applied to interfacial enzyme lipolysis, a brief discussion of the monolayer technique for studying lipase kinetics, and some applications of the monolayer technique to study substrate composition and stereoselectivity, lipolytic inhibitors, interfacial binding and acylglycerol synthesis.