A spectrophotometric method for assay of tannase using rhodanine

A method for assay of microbial tannase (tannin acyl hydrolase) based on the formation of chromogen between gallic acid and rhodanine is reported. Unlike the previous protocols, this method is sensitive up to gallic acid concentration of 5 nmol and has a precision of 1.7% (relative standard deviation). The assay is complete in a short time, very convenient, and reproducible.     

A spectrophotometric method for the assay of phospholipase D activity

Phosphatidylcholine phosphatidohydrolase (EC 3.1.4.4, phospholipase D) catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine to phosphatidic acid and choline. We have developed a spectrophotometric assay for phospholipase D using choline kinase, pyruvate kinase, and lactate dehydrogenase to couple the release of choline with the oxidation of NADH. The assay was linear both with time and with enzyme concentration. The assay should prove useful for continuous monitoring of enzyme activity, determination of initial rates of reaction, and detailed kinetic studies of phospholipase D. The method is limited to analysis of purified preparations of phospholipase D lacking competing activities to the coupled system.     

A continuous spectrophotometric assay method for peptidylarginine deiminase type 4 activity

A simple, continuous spectrophotometric assay for peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD) is described. Deimination of peptidylarginine results in the formation of peptidylcitrulline and ammonia. The ammonia released during peptidylarginine hydrolysis is coupled to the glutamate-dehydrogenase-catalyzed reductive amination of alpha-ketoglutarate to glutamate and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) oxidation. The disappearance of absorbance at 340nm due to NADH oxidation is continuously measured. The specific activity obtained by this new protocol for highly purified human PAD is comparable to that obtained by a commonly used colorimetric procedure, which measures the ureido group of peptidylcitrulline by coupling with diacetyl monoxime. The present continuous spectrophotometric method is highly sensitive and accurate and is thus suitable for enzyme kinetic analysis of PAD. The Ca(2+) concentration for half-maximal activity of PAD obtained by this method is comparable to that previously obtained by the colorimetric procedure.     

A continuous spectrophotometric assay for catechol-O-methyltransferase

Catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) activity can be monitored continuously using a coupled enzyme assay in which the inhibitory product S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) is converted to S-inosylhomocysteine (SIH). A simple spectrophotometric assay for COMT is described based on the difference in the ultraviolet absorption spectra between SAH and SIH.     

A spectrophotometric assay for feruloyl esterases

We have developed a spectrophotometric assay for the quantitative determination of feruloyl esterase activity based on release of 4-nitrophenol from a novel substrate, 4-nitrophenyl ferulate in an emulsion of Triton X-100 in aqueous buffer solution. The release of 4-nitrophenol was linear with reaction time at an early stage of the reaction with various esterase preparations. The method proposed here is accurate, rapid, and easy to perform.     

A spectrophotometric assay for hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase

The present paper describes a new spectrophotometric assay for HGPRTase activity which is more rapid than and as sensitive as the isotopic assays for this enzyme and which avoids the use of high-voltage electrophoresis and liquid scintillation counting.     

A spectrophotometric method to assay epoxide hydrolase activity.

The Aspergillus niger epoxide hydrolase activity was assayed by spectrophotometric using (rac) p-nitrostryrene oxide (pNSO) as substrate. Both the substrate (pNSO) and the reaction product, p-nitrostryrene diol (pNSD), had a strong absorbance in UV at 280 nm. The assay was based on the measure of the pNSD absorbance of the water phase after extraction of the non-reacted pNSO with a solvent. Among the five solvents tested, chloroform was selected since it extracted more than 99% of the epoxide and only 32% of the produced diol. This extraction yield was independent of the diol and epoxide concentrations and it was fairly reproducible. Using different enzyme amounts, the reaction kinetics were linear for the first 10 min corresponding to degrees of conversion less than 5% for the epoxide. Two controls were run simultaneously, one with the substrate alone (epoxide hydrolysis and non-complete extraction) and one with the enzyme alone (enzyme absorbance at 280 nm). The resulting DeltaOD/min was linear with the amount of enzyme added within a large range from 2 to 80 microg of the EH preparation. The new spectrophotometric assay correlates well with the previous HPLC assay and could be used routinely for an easy and fast evaluation of EH activity. The kinetic parameters of (rac) pNSO hydrolysis by A. niger epoxide hydrolase could be easily determined and K(M) (1.1 mM) compared well with that previously reported (1.0 mM).     

A spectrophotometric assay for dehydroascorbate reductase

A simple spectrophotometric assay for dehydroascorbate reductase based on the change in absorbance associated with the formation of ascorbic acid is described. Using a partially purified preparation from spinach leaves, the reaction was found to be linear with time and enzyme concentration. The reaction rate determined by this assay correlated well with that obtained by a high-performance liquid chromatography method. Possible advantages over currently available assays as well as potential applications are discussed.     

A rapid spectrophotometric assay for catechol-O-methyltransferase

A new assay technique for catechol-O-methyltransferase is described. 3,4-Dihydroxyacetophenone is used as the substrate for the assay and the products, 3-hydroxy-4-methoxyacetophenone and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyacetophenone are detected spectrophotometrically at 344 nm in borate buffer, pH 10.0. This spectrophotometric procedure is simple, rapid, and inexpensive while retaining reasonably high sensitivity and precision.     

A spectrophotometric assay for strictosidine synthase

A spectrophotometric assay for strictosidine synthase is described. Strictosidine is extracted with ethyl acetate and, where high substrate concentrations are used, the organic extract is washed with dilute ammonia to remove coextracted secologanin; after evaporation of the solvent, the residue is heated with 5 M H2SO4 for 45 min and the A348 value is measured. Strictosidine production is calculated from the response of similarly treated standards. A minimum production of 10-25 nmol of strictosidine may be determined. The assay is demonstrated using extracts of cultured Cinchona ledgeriana cells.     

A new continuous spectrophotometric assay method for DOPA oxidase activity of tyrosinase

Sensitive assay methods for tyrosinase are essential not only for the understanding the process of pigment production but also for the development of effective inhibitors of tyrosinase. To develop an efficient assay method, we applied thymol blue to reaction mixtures. The enzyme kinetic study revealed that DOPA oxidase activity of tyrosinase in thymol blue-applied reaction system was more sensitively measured, even under lower enzyme units compared with the previous report with significant enhancement of Vmax while affinity change on substrate was not observed. To test whether this method could be applicable to the inhibition and the inactivation kinetic study of tyrosinase, the effect of kojic acid, a well-known tyrosinase inhibitor, and sodium chloride respectively, have been studied. Conclusively, thymol blue method can assay tyrosinase activity with sensitivity and is applicable to the inhibition and the inactivation study of tyrosinase.     

A spectrophotometric collagenase assay

A quantitative collagenase assay using Coomassie blue staining and microtiter spectrophotometry is described. Collagen is gelled and dried onto the bottom of microwells as substrate, washed, incubated with samples, washed again, and then stained. Absorbance at 590 nm increases linearly with increasing amounts of collagen in the range 5-40 micrograms. Bacterial and mammalian collagenases can be detected within 2 h, and 10 ng of bacterial collagenase may be detected in 16 h. For simple screening applications, activity may be detected by eye. The assay is safe, simple, fast, economical, and sensitive.     

A sensitive spectrophotometric assay for guanase activity

A highly sensitive and accurate spectrophotometric method was developed for determination of guanase activity with guanine as substrate. The assay is based on the oxidative coupling of 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone and N,N-diethylaniline. Xanthine formed from guanine by guanase is oxidized to uric acid and hydrogen peroxide by xanthine oxidase, and the hydrogen peroxide produced is determined by an oxidative-coupling reaction with 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone and N,N-diethylaniline mediated by peroxidase. Formation of the indamine dye is greatly affected by the superoxide radical ion (O2-) and pH value. These problems can be overcome by separating the two reactions of hydrogen peroxide formation and color production and carrying out that color-producing reaction at pH 3.0. This method is very sensitive and accurate because the indamine dye has a very high molar extinction coefficient of 29,800. It can be used with various kinds of automatic analyzers such as a Hitachi, Olympus, or Technicon analyzer. Comparative studies showed that this method is more sensitive and reproducible than other methods. Furthermore, guanase activities determined by this method correlated well with those determined by the improved Ellis-Goldberg method. This method should be useful for measurement of guanase activity in banked blood for preventing transfusion hepatitis and could be valuable as a liver function test.     

A simple spectrophotometric assay for arogenate dehydratase

A simple spectrophotometric assay for arogenate dehydratase, the enzyme that catalyzes the formation of L-phenylalanine from L-arogenate, is presented. The method couples the arogenate dehydratase reaction with that of an aromatic aminotransferase partially purified from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. In the presence of 2-ketoglutarate, phenylpyruvate formation is measured at 320 nm at basic pH. The method was compared with two other methods already in use in our laboratory for arogenate dehydratase. The new method is simple, quick, fairly sensitive, and especially suitable for the screening of a large number of samples.     

A general coupled spectrophotometric assay for decarboxylases

A rapid, continuous spectrophotometric method has been developed for the assay of decarboxylases. The assay uses a coupled enzyme system in which liberated CO2 is reacted with phosphoenolpyruvate and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase to form oxaloacetate, which in turn is reduced by malate dehydrogenase to L-malate concomitantly with the oxidation of NADH to NAD. The resultant decrease in absorbance at 340 nm accurately reflects the activity of the decarboxylase. The method is capable of detecting the liberation of as little as 1 nmol of CO2/min and was tested in assays of lysine decarboxylase, orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase, and 4'-phosphopantothenoyl-L-cysteine decarboxylase.