Quantitative aspects of the cytochemical demonstration of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase with tetranitro BT studied in a model system of polyacrylamide films.

The cytochemical determination of the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) with tetranitro blue tetrazolium (TNBT) was studied with model films of polyacrylamide gel incorporating purified enzyme. This model system enabled a quantitative study to be made of different parameters involved with the cytochemical assay as it is applied to sections or smears. The enzyme activity of G6PDH incorporated in the model films was also assayed biochemically. Optimal conditions for retaining the maximum amount of enzymic activity are described. The behaviour of G6PDH towards enzyme inhibitors was found to be similar in model films and in solution. WIth TNBT, absorbance measurements at a single wavelength (535 nm) were used to estimate the enzyme activity quantitatively. When carried out under standardized conditions, both the cytochemical and biochemical assay showed a linear relation with the time of incubation and obeyed the Beer-Lambert law. The correlation between biochemical and cytochemical data was very high, which enabled cytochemical data to be converted into absolute units of enzyme activity. The data obtained in this way closely resembled the data of enzyme activity calculated from the absorbance of formazan produced inside polyacrylamide model films and afterwards extracted into a suitable solvent.