Automated conductimetric assay of human serum cholinesterase activity

Serum cholinesterase activity was determined by conductimetry using samples in the microliter range. Butyrylcholine iodide was demonstrated to be a convenient substrate for the conductimetric assay. Validation of the microassay was made by using either purified enzyme or control serum. In the range of 0-60 U/l, a linear relationship was demonstrated. Correlation with a reference spectrophotometric method was obtained with a slope of 1.18. An explanation of this value is proposed, as different hydrolysis rates were obtained with human sera, depending on the substrate used (butyrylthio- or butyryl-choline ester).