Reevaluation of assay methods and establishment of kit for superoxide dismutase activity

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was measured by seven assay methods. The nitrite method was found to be the best for our SOD assay kit. This method was then modified to give better sensitivity and minimize interference by coexisting protein, a factor which has been previously ignored. Hydroxylamine or its O-sulfonic acid, xanthine oxidase, hypoxanthine, EDTA, and the sample were incubated with or without KCN at pH 8.2, 37°C, for 30 min. Diazo dye-forming reagent was added and the absorption was measured at 550 nm. Human plasma and erythrocyte lysate from healthy adults and Down's syndrome patients were assayed by this SOD kit and by the cytochrome c method. Our kit gave 8.5 times higher sensitivity than the cytochrome c method. This high sensitivity allowed the use of a simple spectrophotometer and, moreover, only one dilution was needed to determine the SOD unit with the help of our formulas. Good recovery, reproducibility, and stability of reagents were demonstrated.