Procedure for the identification of proteolytic activity or proteolytic activity-inhibiting activity

摘要

An automatable, rapid sensitive and fast procedure for the identification of proteolytic activity or of activity inhibitory thereof, in biological fluids, fermentation broths, conditioned culture media, cell extracts, etc., for use in the pharmacological field, is described. The procedure uses the capacity of peptides hydropathically complementary to the substrate peptide to recognize it and bind it only if intact, but not if digested by proteolytic activity. Using fragments of pro-endothelin, the procedure is used for the identification of ECE (endothelin converting enzymes) activity or of inhibitors thereof. IMAGE