We describe the localization of Alexa-488-labeled SMase in SM/ceramide (Cer) lipid monolayers containing segregated liquid-condensed (LC) Cer-enriched domains surrounded by a continuous liquid-expanded (LE) SMenriched phase. Langmuir-Schaefer films were made in order to visualize the labeled enzyme. Independently of initial conditions Alexa-SMase is preferably localized in the SMenriched LE phase and it is not enriched at the domain boundaries. A novel mechanism is proposed for the action of SMase, which can also explain the regulatory effect of the surface topography on the enzyme activity. The homogeneous enzymatic generation of Cer in the LE phase leads to a meta-stable, kinetically trapped, supersaturated mixed monolayer. This effect acts as driving force for the segregation of the Cer-enriched domain following classical nucleation mechanisms. Accordingly, the number and size of Cer-enriched domains are determined by the extent of Cer supersaturation in the LE phase rather than by the SMase local activity. The kinetic barrier for nucleation, for which a compositional gap of at least 53 mol% of Cer is necessary to reach a thermodynamically stable LC phase, can explain the lag time to reaching full catalytic activity. Altogether, the data support an "area-activated mechanism," in which the enzyme is homogeneously active over the LE surface. Phospholipases are a group of mostly water-soluble enzymes, widely spread in nature, that perform their catalytic activity at an interface, owing to the insoluble nature of their substrates (1). Several studies have equated "membrane defects," such as those arising from the coexistence of lipid domains in different physical states, with enhanced catalytic activity (2-8). In 1990, it was reported that the liquidexpanded (LE), liquid-condensed (LC) lateral interfaces (lipid domain borders) in a one-component monolayer of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) act as starting points for Naja naja phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) catalytic activity (9). Dahmen-Levison, Brezesinski, and Mohwald (10) showed in lipid monolayers that the fluorescent-labeled PLA 2 preferably accumulates at the LC-LE interface of domains. Those results support the socalled perimeter-activated or border-activated mechanism, in which the enzyme must have physical contact with the domain boundary/membrane defect in order to become fully active and exerts its major catalytic action adsorbed to these linear interfaces (11). However, more recent studies (12) have demonstrated that fluorescein-labeled PLA 2 from Crotalus atrox was homogeneously distributed in 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) and DPPC giant unilamellar vesicles when the lipids were in the LE state and preferentially localized in the LE phase at temperatures corresponding to the gel-fluid phase coexistence. The homogeneous distribution of PLA 2 on the membrane surface would support a mechanism by which the enzyme is fully active over the whole fluid surface (area-activated mechanism) but cannot adequately explain...