Activities of enzymes in plasma should be measured at 37 degrees C. 1979

P F Duggan

There are considerable differences of opinion as to the most desirable temperature at which activities of enzymes in plasma should be measured. Debate centers around 25 degrees C because of its widespread use in physico-chemical measurements, 30 degrees C because of its supposed technical convenience, and 37 degrees because of its physiological significance. There is, however, widespread agreement that the activities of intracellular enzymes, and of enzymes having a natural function in plasma, be measured at 37 degrees C. Perhaps because estimations of the activities of those enzymes in plasma that have leaked from damaged tissues have been subject to almost continuous modifications, temperature has simply become just another variable to take into account. In this article I describe the relevance of a temperature near 37 degrees C to the activities of all enzymes in man, intracellular and extracellular. I conclude that 37 degrees C is to be favored as the temperature for assaying all parameters in human biochemistry affected by temperature. These include not only enzyme activities but also pH, blood-gas equilibria, binding data, and, in fact, all kinetic activities in the body.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007700 Kinetics The rate dynamics in chemical or physical systems.
D011487 Protein Conformation The characteristic 3-dimensional shape of a protein, including the secondary, supersecondary (motifs), tertiary (domains) and quaternary structure of the peptide chain. PROTEIN STRUCTURE, QUATERNARY describes the conformation assumed by multimeric proteins (aggregates of more than one polypeptide chain). Conformation, Protein,Conformations, Protein,Protein Conformations
D001831 Body Temperature The measure of the level of heat of a human or animal. Organ Temperature,Body Temperatures,Organ Temperatures,Temperature, Body,Temperature, Organ,Temperatures, Body,Temperatures, Organ
D004798 Enzymes Biological molecules that possess catalytic activity. They may occur naturally or be synthetically created. Enzymes are usually proteins, however CATALYTIC RNA and CATALYTIC DNA molecules have also been identified. Biocatalyst,Enzyme,Biocatalysts
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D013696 Temperature The property of objects that determines the direction of heat flow when they are placed in direct thermal contact. The temperature is the energy of microscopic motions (vibrational and translational) of the particles of atoms. Temperatures

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