An automated method for determination of serum and urine alpha-amylase

An automated method for the determination of alpha-amylase activities of serum and urine using the Phadebas Amylase Test is described. The procedure has been adapted for the System Olli 3000 analyser using amylase tablets whose weight is half of that of normal tablets. The results are calculated by the computer with the aid of a standard curve calculated theoretically. This automated procedure is fast, as many as 120 analyses per hour can be carried out. Intra-assay precision of 2.0 and 2.2% (CV) is obtained from serum samples containing 301 and 181 u/l of alpha-amylase, respectively (n = 20), and inter-assay precision is 4.4 and 3.3% with mean values of 337 and 196 u/l, respectively (n = 20). When the automated procedure is compared with the manual procedure on 85 sera with alpha-amylase activities below 1000 u/l, a good correlation r = 0.992, and a regression equation y = 1.01x-6 are found. In the case of serum and urine samples, which contain high enzyme activities, the automated method gives slightly higher results than the manual method.