Enzymatic determination of unbound D-mannose in serum

Mannose is an aldohexose component of a number of glycoproteins in cellular membranes and blood plasma. Free (unbound) mannose is a normal blood plasma constituent and its concentration is elevated in diabetes mellitus and chronic glomerulonephritis. We devised an enzymatic method for the determination of free mannose in which mannose is converted to glucose-6-phosphate and measured spectrophotometrically using glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP). Accumulation of reduced NADP in the assay was verified by spectral analysis and by finding rapid disappearance of absorbance at 340 nm on addition of glutathione reductase and oxidized glutathione into the reaction mixture. The method necessitates prior removal of glucose from the samples. This we accomplished using glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and a surplus amount of NADP, followed by elimination of reduced NADP by acidification of the reaction mixture. The assays may be run in parallel for expediency. Concentration of free mannose in serum was 18.5 +/- 5.5 mumol/l in healthy fasting female adults. The analytical recovery was 90.2 +/- 10.2% and the between-run imprecision was 13.5% (18.5 +/- 5.5 mumol/l, mean +/- SD) and 10.4% (75.3 +/- 10.3 mumol/l). The assay showed rectilinearity up to 220 mumol/l, which covers the measuring range to which the mannose concentrations in normal and clinical samples may be expected to fall.