alpha-1 Antitrypsin phenotypes determined by isoelectric focusing of the cysteine-antitrypsin mixed disulfide in serum.

The methods available for analysis of sugar kinase activity are usually either complicated or time consuming. Coupled assays, aside from the added cost of coupling enzymes and substrates, present problems due to the pH optima, activators, and inhibitors of the coupling enzymes. Direct separation of the product requires either ion exchange (1) or paper chromatography (2,3). The former requires constant attention and the latter usually takes either overnight for the completion of a chromatogram or a great deal of elution solvent (200 ml) for DEAE paper discs (3).Those enzymes which form phosphorylated products from nonionic substrates (hexokinases, glycerol kinase, phosphoribosyl-transferases, etc.) may be conveniently assayed by chromatograhic separation of a radioactive phosphorylated product from the radioactive nonionic substrate, where the product remains at the origin. In such assays, no interfering coupling enzymes are used and the product can be directly and sensitively measured. The only current limitation with such methods is the time required for the separation of the phosphorylated product. It would be advantageous to obtain the enzyme's activity in as short a time as possible.We present here a method of paper chromatographic separation of phosphorylated product from nonionic substrate which requires only approximately two hours, uses a large petri dish, very little chromatographic grade paper, and almost no attention.