A sensitive tyrosinase method for human skin.

A sensitive competitive radioimmunoassay for quantitative analysis of tyrosinase in biological tissues has been developed. The binding sites of antityrosinase antibodies were competed for by 125I-labelled human tyrosinase and a known (standard) or unknown (sample) amount of tyrosinase in solution. A sensitivity range of about 5-500 pmol/l was obtained when a solubilized melanoma tyrosinase with a molecular weight of 66,000 D was used as a standard. The method was used on 0.5 cm2 skin samples from which tyrosinase was solubilized with Nonidet P-40. The method is useful for measuring the content of tyrosinase in crude samples where the enzyme activity may be affected by inhibitors or by unspecific oxidation.