Quantitative gel-electrophoretic determination of serum amylase isoenzyme distributions.

I report a direct, sensitive, quantitative method for determining serum amylase isoenzyme activity with commercially available reagents. Day-to-day reproducibility (CV) was 3--4% for the isoenzymes in normal serum; within-run precision was 8, 3, and 2% for low, normal and high isoenzyme activities. Amylase isoenzymes, separated into the pancreatic and salivary types by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel, are then quantified by directly incubating the gels in soluble-starch solution, staining with iodine, and densitometry. The proportion of pancreatic isoenzyme (47 normal sera) was 43 +/- 8% (mean +/- SD). Isoenzyme activities as low as 2% of normal can be measured accurately in 10 micro L of serum. The reproducibility, precision, and sensitivity indicate that the method is applicable to differential diagnosis of hyperamylasemia or hypoamylasemia, and is suited for monitoring the subtle changes in serum amylase isoenzyme distribution that may accompany disease progression or therapy.