Quantitative affinity chromatography: increased versatility of the technique for studies of ligand binding.

The potential of affinity chromatography for the characterization of strong solute-ligand interactions is explored by studying the NADH-dependent elution of rabbit muscle lactate dehydrogenase from a column of trinitrophenyl-Sepharose in 0.067 M phosphate, pH 7.2. An interesting development is the simplification of the general affinity chromatography theory that emanates from the use of affinity matrices with a high concentration of immobilized reactant groups. The resultant expression allows evaluation of the intrinsic association constant for solute-ligand interactions from a single series of either zonal or frontal affinity chromatographic experiments conducted in the presence of a range of free ligand concentrations. Thus, contrary to previous belief, an affinity matrix designed for solute purification work should prove to be an asset for, rather than an impediment to, the study of solute-ligand interactions by quantitative affinity chromatography.