Yoshihito Watanabe

Enzyme immunoassay of human cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase

A sensitive and specific sandwich enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for human cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase (c-AST) has been developed. Serum was incubated with anti-c-AST antibody-coated polystyrene beads, and further incubated with anti-c-AST antibody-peroxidase conjugate. The peroxidase activity bound to the polystyrene bead was proportional to the amount of c-AST. The method allows measurement of serum c-AST ranging from 50-2,000 micrograms/l. No cross-reactivity with m-AST or other serum components was observed. Recovery, within-day precision, and day-to-day precision were good. The levels of c-AST obtained by the proposed EIA were compared with those based on enzyme activity. The results suggest that there is a considerable excess of immunologically active but catalytically inactive c-AST in normal and patients sera, and that variable specific activities of c-AST are may be found in sera from different individuals.