[Fluorometric method of determining prolylendopeptidase activity in human erythrocytes in normal and pathologic...

A highly sensitive fluorometric method for determination of prolylendopeptidase (PE) activity in human erythrocyte hemolysates in the presence of hemoglobin has been developed. The method is based on measurement of fluorescence of 4-methyl-7-aminocoumarine released in the course of enzymatic reaction from the substrate Z-glycyl-proline-4-methylcoumarine-7-amide. A correlation was introduced for the quenching of fluorescence by hemoglobin. The method is suitable for the determination of PE activity in human erythrocyte hemolysates in various pathological states. The dependence of PE activity on the incubation time, protein and substrate concentrations were studied using the 1,200-fold purified preparations of prolylendopeptidase II. The values of PE activity in erythrocyte hemolysates of healthy donors and in those of patients with odontogenic phlegmons of maxillary-facial area were virtually identical. PE activity in erythrocyte hemolysates of stored blood was 5 times lower than that in the cell hydrolysates of fresh blood. The PE activity was not observed in blood serum of fresh and stored blood of healthy persons and of patients with acute inflammatory processes of maxillary-facial area, as well as in blood serum of patients with hepatitis and glomerulopephritis.