Improved separation of creatine kinase isoenzymes by use of DEAE-Sepharose Cl-6B

We describe here a simple, rapid chromatographic procedure for quantitatively separating serum creatine kinase isoenzymes (EC 2.7.3.2), with diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-Sepharose CL-6B as the anion-exchanger. We established the column bed height and the elution parameters by use of a simplex procedure. DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B equilibrated in tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (50 mmol/L, pH 7.5, and containing 30 mmol of NaCl per liter) is packed into a miniature polystyrene column with bed dimensions of 0.7 x 1.5 cm. The DEAE-Sepharose column system was evaluated and compared with a DEAE-Sephadex A-50 column system. The results indicate that the Sepharose column yields MM, MB, and BB isoenzymes uniquely, without cross contamination. Coefficients of variation (CV's) for 10 replicate column assays were 2.8, 5.9, and 15.2% for 569 U of MM per liter, 82.3 U of MB per liter, and 9.0 U of BB per liter, respectively. The serum sample was enriched with baboon heart extract. Day-to-day reproducibility for a serum control assayed on 10 days yielded CV's of 4.6, 9.9, and 40.3% for 391, 45.3 and 1.9 U of isoenzymes MM, MB, and BB per liter, respectively. A reference interval for each isoenzymes was derived from data on 81 men and 63 women.