Human serum incubated with 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (860 mmol/liter) and magnesium ion (270 mumol/liter) at pH 10.35 showed greater alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) activity than if an equal amount of magnesium ion was added at the time of measurement. The apparent increase is due in part to a slight lability of serum alkaline phosphatase in 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol, which is prevented by the inclusion of magnesium. For some sera, however, a portion of this increased activity is real rather than artifactual. Use of serum rather than 4-nitrophenylphosphate to initiate the reaction produced relatively low activities and, in some cases, markedly nonlinear (increasing) rate progress curves. The behavior of some commercial lyophilized control sera differed significantly from that of patients' sera, in particular exhibiting a marked lability in the presence of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol. Incubation of these labile materials with Mg2+ slightly improved their stability; addition of Zn2+ plus Mg2+ markedly stimulated and completely protected their alkaline phosphatase activity.