An assessment of four methods for the assay of amylase activity

This paper describes an investigation carried out to select a reagent kit for amylase assay to replace the Wohlgemuth method currently in use in our laboratory. The following four commercial kits were assessed: Amylochrome, Phadebas, DyAmyl-L and Amylotube. The results showed that the first three kits which employed chromogenic substrates gave better reproducibility than the Amylotube kit which used plain starch substrate and the starch-iodine reaction. Results obtained with the former methods correlated well with one another but poorly with results obtained with the latter method. Various considerations given for the recommended use of the Amylochrome method are discussed.