A sensitive, colorimetric, microtitre assay for alcohol dehydrogenase in standard endoscopic gastric biopsies.

摘要

Traditional assays of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity in gastric mucosa use spectrophotometry of tissue homogenates, which are based on the reduction of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). We describe a colorimetric method using the coupled reduction of N,N-dimethyl-4-nitrosoaniline. This method has increased sensitivity, allowing activity to readily be determined in standard endoscopic biopsies. Tissue homogenisation has been replaced by an incubation stage, and the method has been optimised for a 96-well plate reader, allowing rapid processing of large numbers of samples. We found that Helicobacter pylori infection and age have a significant effect on gastric ADH activity.