title: Plasma arginase concentration measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in normal adult population.
abstract: Human liver arginase has many biological effects on lymphocytes, macrophages, liver cells, and tumor cells, in addition to its major role in the liver urea cycle. We have developed a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method to quantitate arginase concentrations in plasma that can be applied to various body fluids. The sensitivity was 2.5 ng/mL. The coefficients of variation were good both in intra- and inter-assay. Using this method to study the stability of an arginase preparation, we found that plasma arginase was stable for only 1 or 2 days even at temperatures as low as 4 degrees C. The mean plasma level was 41.0 +/- 3.3 ng/mL (mean +/- SE) in 143 normal subjects. There was no age difference in the general population and in the male group. However, in the female group, the plasma arginase level increased with age (p = 0.05). Its biological significance was unclear. As a whole, the ELISA method for the measurement of arginase concentration in the body fluid is convenient and reliable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: B I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Kuo
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D001119:Arginase / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D001119:Arginase