Improved Spectrophotometric Determination of Amylase with a New Stable Starch Substrate Solution

Abstract

A rapid spectrophotometric procedure for the determination of α-amylase activity by the use of the blue starch-triiodide ion complex is described. The method employs a Litner starch substrate solution which is preserved indefinitely by the incorporation of sorbic acid. Human cerebrospinal fluids consistently exhibit low amylase activity with the proposed method, the mean value being 2 "Somogyi" units.