[Evaluation of methods to determine the vitamin B6 status of humans. 1. alpha-EGOT: methods and validation]

A semiautomatic method to determine the activation coefficient of the glutamic-oxaloacetic-transaminase in the erythrocytes is described. This method is compared with other methods and possible sources of error are discussed. Colorimetric methods show considerable disadvantages, such as lack of precision or unspecific hydrazone formation. The kinetic tests avoid these problems. This is in part due to the fact that enzyme stimulation by excessive PLP-addition as used in our procedure bears practical and theoretical advantages. Nevertheless, comparison with published data on vitamin B6 status remains difficult because of insufficient standardization of the used methods. To validate our method we performed experiments testing the stability of the samples, short-term physiological changes and influence of the chelating agent EDTA on transamination. Heparinised blood samples can be stored only for one day with changing at 4 degrees C or room temperature. Storing of the erythrocytic suspension at deep-freezing temperature (-18 degrees C) leads to considerable changes of results. When kept under liquid nitrogen there is no change of the alpha-values for at least 45 days. The addition of EDTA to the samples is known to exclude the influences of cations, such as non enzymatic transamination of a direct alteration of the enzyme activity and therefore EDTA should be added to improve standardisation of the method. The described procedure is a fast, reliable and precise way to determine the alpha-EGOT.