[Novel approach to the study od adrenaline auto-oxidation and its use for the measurements of superoxide dismutase activity].

The intensive rise of absorption maximum at 347 nm (wave number 28.8) was found during autoxidation of low concentrations of adrenaline (230 microM) in alkaline pH (10.65) under room temperature and in the absence of additional sources of superoxide. It was stated that the appearance of this product of adrenaline oxidation, which was not reported earlier, is considerably more rapid than formation of adrenochrome (absorbtion at 480 nm) and is inhibited by superoxide dismutase (SOD). It was shown that erythrocyte hemolysate and some studied antioxidants (ascorbate and cysteine) inhibit formation of this substance like SOD. The determination of the described substance can be used for measurement of both: activity of SOD or antioxidant activity of different biological materials. The possibility to use available not expensive chemicals (0.1% adrenaline solution from drug store, 0.2 M bicarbonate buffer) serves as an additional advantage of the proposed method.