P-Nitrophenol-alpha-D-glucopyranoside as substrate for measurement of maltase activity in human semen.

Hitherto, seminal plasma maltase has been measured with maltose as substrate; this method is time consuming and lacks specificity. The use of a synthetic substrate, p-nitrophenol-alpha-D-glucopyranoside, allows accurate and rapid determination of this activity. When maltase is added to the incubation medium (the substrate and reduced glutathione in potassium phosphate buffer, pH 6.8), maintained at 37 degrees C, hydrolysis of the original substrate to p-nitrophenol goes at a constant rate during 4 h. Under optimal conditions of incubation, the Michaelis constant of the reaction, calculated by the Hanes method, was 2.92 +/- 0.84 (SD) X 10(-3) for six different semen samples. Isomaltase appeared to be absent from seminal plasma. The enzyme is stable to freezing and slow thawing and can be stored for at least 26 days at -80 degrees C. Its molecular weight is 259 000. Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (pH 6.8) exerts a noncompetitive inhibition on the enzyme activity. In 68 men 23 to 45 years old, whose semen analyses were normal, the seminal plasma maltase activity was 467 +/- 135 (SD) mU/g of protein. It was generally decreased in patients with infertility disorders.