Removal of contaminating hemoglobin from peroxidase in traumatic skin lesions.

A method is described for the removal of contaminating hemoglobin from the peroxidase enzyme in traumatic skin lesions. The procedure is based on hemoglobin precipitation in a combination of ammonium sulfate half-saturation, and chloroform shaking of the cetyltrimethylammonium-bromide extract. The procedure as such somewhat increases the activity of the peroxidase extract if the extract contains no hemoglobin. On the other hand, the peroxidase activity of the extract decreases as the amount of precipitating hemoglobin increases. On average, about 90% of the peroxidase activity persists after hemoglobin precipitation if the hemoglobin concentration in the extract does not exceed 25 mg/100 ml. In experimental incision wounds, the peroxidase activities obtained with this procedure were the same as when enzyme determinations were done without the removal of hemoglobin or slightly higher. In addition, the amount of peroxidase activity in the wounds was estimated, based on the granulocytes of the contaminating blood.