A polarographic study of the hydrolysis of [8-lysine]vasopressin and some hormonogens of the vasopressin series with the blood serum of women in the last week of pregnancy was studied. The dependence of hydrolysis on pH (pH optimum: 7.4-7.50, substrate concentration (Km 1.2 . 10-5M), pH stability and thermal stability were determined. The rate of hydrolysis of individual vasopressin analogues decreases in the order: [8-lysine]vasopressin > Nα-glycyl-prolyl[8-lysine]-vasopressin > Nα-leucyl-[8-lysine]vasopressin > Nα-alanyl-[8-lysine]vasopressin > Nα-phenyl alanyl-[8-lysine]vasopressin > Nα-diglycyl-[8-lysine]vasopressin > Nα-prolyl-[8-lysine]vasopressin > Nα-triglycyl-[8-lysine]vasopressin > Nα-sarcosyl-glycyl-[8-lysine]vasopressin. The degree of hydrolysis gradually increases to a multiple with the length of the pregnancy in consequence of the presence of oxytocine. However, vasopressin is also hydrolysed to a small extent with the enzymes from the blood sera of non-pregnant women. Under similar analytical conditions oxytocin was not hydrolysed with the sera of non-pregnant women and therefore oxytocin is a more suitable substrate than vasopressin for polarographic determination of serum oxytocinase.
Quantitative gas-liquid chromatographic determination of free glycerol in blood serum