A simple procedure for purification of NADH-specific dihydropteridine reductase from mammalian liver

A simple and convenient purification method which can yield a homogeneous preparation from even a small amount of starting material was devised for NADH-specific dihydropteridine reductase from rat liver. The procedure is essentially composed of two steps, i.e., affinity chromatography on Matrex gel blue A and hydrophobic chromatography on Phenyl-Sepharose. Prior to the Matrex gel blue A chromatography, the crude extract of rat liver was oxidized to dissociate NADH, bound in the enzyme-NADH complex, from the enzyme. Low molecular weight substances in the extract were removed by Sephadex G-25 gel filtration; then the enzyme was purified by successive chromatographies on Matrex gel blue A and Phenyl-Sepharose columns. Thus about 0.1 mg of purified enzyme was obtained from 3 g of rat liver with 40% recovery. The preparation showed a single protein band on polyacrylamide and SDS-gel electrophoresis. Using NADH and tetrahydro-6-methylpterin, the maximal velocity of the enzyme was determined to be 64.2 mumol quinonoid-dihydro-6-methylpterin reduced/min/mg. Km values of the enzyme were 0.85 microM and 3.4 microM for NADH and quinonoid-dihydro-6-methylpterin, respectively. This simple purification method was also applicable to livers from other mammalian sources such as human and bovine.