Blood Diastase as an Indicator of Liver Function

The method developed in this laboratory for the estimation of diastase in biological material satisfies 2 essential requirements: it yields accurate quantitative results, and is sufficiently sensitive to permit the determination of very small quantities of the enzyme.The quantity of the enzyme we express as the amount of reducing matter, in terms of glucose, which is produced by a known amount of the enzyme-bearing material under standardized conditions. As applied to blood, when we state that the diastase value of human blood serum is on an average 120, this means that 100 cc. of serum, incubated with 1.5% starch paste for 1/2 hour at 40°, produces a quantity of reducing matter which in regard to reducing capacity is equivalent to 120 mg. of glucose. The determination is actually carried out with 1 cc. of plasma (or serum), which is incubated with 5 cc. of starch paste and 2 cc. of a 1% NaCl solution for 30 minutes, and subsequently deproteinized by our copper method. The reduction value determined in th...