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Updated: Jun 28, 2026
An Assay for Measuring the Activity of Escherichia coli Inducible Lysine Decarboxyase
Published on: December 19, 2010
Simple and rapid enzymatic assay of ornithine decarboxylase activity
L Badolo1, V Berlaimont, M Helson-Cambier
1Laboratory of Bioanalytical Chemistry, Toxicology and Applied Physical Chemistry, Institute of Pharmacy, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine, Bld. du Triomphe CP 205/1, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Abstract:
Since the induction of putrescine synthesis by ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) is observed in many pathological and physiological processes, a useful and simple method to assay this enzyme activity should be an interesting tool to quantify the biological importance of its induction. An enzymatic method to assay ODC is reported here. This method is based on the reaction between putrescine and soya diamine oxidase. The reaction releases H(2)O(2), which is measured by a colorimetric method. The validation of this method showed good accuracy (98+/-5% of recovery). High precision and reproducibility were obtained. A linearity with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 in the range of 2.5-25 nmol was obtained. This method is also rugged and specific. The application of the assay of ODC activity showed that it is useful as a rapid and simple tool for assaying ODC activity in vitro. Comparison with the HPLC determination of ODC activity shows strong correlation along with the high accuracy of the two methods.
