Abstract
Elastase activity was determined using natural elastine as the natural substrate with fluorophotometric method and synthetic suc (Ala) 3 pNA with colorimetric method.
Sensitivity of the fluorophotometric method was 0.01μg (absolute weight of elastase, labelled by Millipore Corp.) of elastase, and it was comparable to the colorimetric method.
However, it should be emphasized that when the natural substrate is used, the assay of elastase activity is not disturbed by the protein in the biological material, and the inhibitory effect of NaCl and α2-MG on the elastase activity is exerted when elastin is used as the substrate, which is not shown when suc (Ala) 3 pNA is used, so that clinically more significant determination of elastase activity can be performed with natural substrate, elastin.
