Determination of enzyme activity by chromatography and videodensitometry. II. Urea cycle enzymes in tissue homogenates

Methods are described for the determination of the activity of urea cycle enzymes in human and rat tissues by chromatography and videodensitometry(CV-technique). With specific substrates carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase and ornithine carbamoyltransferase activities were determined as the amounts of citrulline formed. Argininosuccinate synthetase, argininosuccinate lyase and arginase activities were measured from the changes in ornithine concentration. For measuring the activity of five enzymes 5 to 10 mg wet weight of tissue was sufficient. The CV-technique could be conveniently applied for the investigation of enzyme content in samples from human biopsy.