Long-term stability of enzymes in human serum stored in liquid nitrogen.

We analyzed the stability of the enzymes alpha-amylase (EC 3.2.1.1), alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1), alanine aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.2), aspartate aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.1), creatine kinase (EC 2.7.3.2), glutamate dehydrogenase (EC 1.4.1.3), gamma-glutamyltransferase (EC 2.3.2.2) and lactate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27) of a human serum pool during storage in liquid nitrogen for a period of 10 months. Except amylase and creatine kinase, all enzymes were stable. Amylase increased in activity, creatine kinase activity decreased. Therefore, human serum stored at -196 degrees C can be used as satisfactory substitute for lyophilized enzyme control serum in internal quality control and stable enzyme material for optimization of methods.