A rapid and sensitive radiochemical assay for phosphatidic acid phosphohydrolase activity

A technique is described for the radiochemical assay of phosphatidic acid phosphohydrolase activity in rat brain. Radiochemically pure 32P-labeled phosphatidic acid of known specific radioactivity and structure, which was biosynthesized in vitro by the diacylglycerol kinase of E. coli, was used as the substrate. As little as 5 microgram of microsomal or mitochondrial protein can be used for the assay, and product formation in the picomole range can be determined accurately. This procedure should be useful in situations where only limited amounts of tissue are available.