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The measurement of gamma-glutamyl hydrolase (conjugase) activity in rat brain

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Abstract

An assay using the artificial substrate, 2,4-diamino-10-methyl-pteroylglutamyl-gamma-glutamate (MTX-G1), was developed to measure gamma-glutamyl hydrolase (conjugase), which hydrolyzes folylpolyglutamates. This assay allows us to: 1) measure conjugase for the first time in rat brain and 2) measure conjugase in a reliable, sensitive and inexpensive manner. The MTX-binding assay results were compared to samples analyzed by HPLC and found to vary by only 13%. The artificial substrate, MTX-G1, had a lower rate of hydrolysis than pteroylglutamyl-gamma-glutamate (Pte-G2), 70.7±0.64 and 92.6±0.22 nmoles/hr/mg protein respectively. Conjugase was semi-purified 24 fold in H2O and found to have a pH optimum of 5.0.

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Hartley, D.M., Snodgrass, S.R. & Bradshaw, P.A. The measurement of gamma-glutamyl hydrolase (conjugase) activity in rat brain. Neurochem Res 13, 147–151 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00973326

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