Novel Assays Measure Cytochrome c Oxidase Activity

The assays can be performed independently or sequentially to measure specific activity.

COX is the terminal enzyme of the mitochondrial electron transfer chain. It catalyzes the four-electron reduction of molecular oxygen to water using reduced cytochrome c as a substrate. The ability to measure the amount of COX and assay activity in any sample has wide application because of the many diseases in which alterations in this enzyme are either causative for, or a consequence of, the condition.

The new assays, the result of a novel approach to assaying activity and quantity of COX, a biomarker for diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer, have been released by MitoScience LCC (Eugene, OR, USA). Requiring very small tissue samples and no prior isolation of mitochondria from tissue samples, the three new assays are sensitive, rapid, accurate, and reproducible.

The MS400A Complex IV activity microplate assay kit is a 96-well activity microplate kit that determines the COX activity in a human sample, whereas the MS400Q Complex IV quantity microplate assay kit determines the amount of COX in a human sample. The MS400MULTI Complex IV multiplexing (activity/quantity) microplate assay kit is used to determine both the activity and quantity of COX in a human sample.



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