An analysis of pancreatic enzymes used in epidermal separation.

A comparative enzyme analysis was performed on 3 pancreatic extracts generally used for dermal-epidermal separation, namely, crude trypsin (Difco), crude trypsin (Sigma) and pancreatin. A fourth pancreatic extract, crude lipase, was subjected to a corresponding analysis. The 4 extracts were assayed for activities of: protease (total), trypsin, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase-A, amylase, elastase, lipase, esterase, arylesterase and ribonuclease. Relative activities of the different proteolytic enzymes were individualized by utilizing specific inhibitors. Insignificant differences were observed between the enzyme activities of crude trypsin (Difco) and pancreatin. Crude lipase displayed similar enzyme activities as these two extracts in addition to high lipolytic, esterolytic and arylesterolytic activities. Crude trypsin (Sigma) exhibited higher tryptic and chymotryptic activities than the other extracts but lacked all further enzyme activities. Epidermal separation was performed using similar incubation conditions for each extract and skin from the same donor. Ultrastructural examination of the detached epidermis revealed that a more effective separation could be achieved by crude lipase.