[Comparative evaluation of a new method for the determination of alpha-amylase]

A new method for alpha-amilase determination has been compared with other two methods already tested. All these methods have been evaluated by linearity, precision, accuracy and correlation tests. Affinity of the three different substrates for pancreatic and salivary isoenzymes has been valued too. The new method is based on the use of a mixture of p-nitrophenimaltopentaoside and p-nitrophenilhexaoside and it has given excellent results in the different tests and it has shown to be easily adaptable to automatized and centrifugal analysis. Moreover the hydrolysis of well defined substrates gives products which absorb in the visible part of the spectrum and it is an evident advantage. Therefore, this method is one of the most satisfactory for alpha-amilase determination too.