Patent ID: 6635438
Filing Date: 2003-10-21
Classification: C12Q,G01N,Y10S

Abstract:
In an enzymatic cycling assay for assessing the amount of homocysteine and/or cystathionine in a solution including the steps of:(a) creating a reaction mixture by reacting the solution containing homocysteine and/or cystathionine with cystathionine &bgr;-synthase, or a derivative thereof, L-serine, and cystathionine &bgr;-lyase, or a derivative thereof, for a time period sufficient to catalyze the cyclical conversion of homocysteine to cystathionine and the reconversion of cystathionine to homocysteine with the production of pyruvate and ammonia; (b) determining the amount of pyruvate and/or ammonia present in the reaction mixture; and (c) assessing the amount of homocysteine and/or cystathionine present in the solution based on the amount of pyruvate and/or ammonia produced, the improvement which comprises the step of completing reaction step (a) in less than 15 minutes.