Adenosine triphosphate determination

Glucose [50-99-7] urea [57-13-6] (qv), and cholesterol [57-88-5] (see Steroids) are the substrates most frequentiy measured, although there are many more substrates or metaboUtes that are determined in clinical laboratories using enzymes. Co-enzymes such as adenosine triphosphate [56-65-5] (ATP) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide [53-84-9] in its oxidized (NAD" ) or reduced (NADH) [58-68-4] form can be considered substrates. Enzymatic analysis is covered in detail elsewhere (9). 

Enzymatic Assay. The enzymatic (luciferase) assay for adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is one of the methods applied to areas of biocidal control in oil production operation [1454]. A reliable method for the determination of ATP is the measurement of bioluminescence produced by the luciferin luciferase system. 

Suppliers of visible spectrophotometers are reviewed in Table 1.1. Spectroscopic methods are applicable to the determination of phenols, chlorophenols, amines, mixtures of organics, boron, halogens, total nitrogen and total phosphorus in soils, cationic surfactants, carbohydrates, total nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur in non-saline sediments, boron, total organic carbon, total sulphur and arsenic in saline sediments, cationic surfactants, adenosine triphosphate and total organic carbon in sludges. 

Smirnova et al. [5] have described a simple non-enzymatic method of quantitative determination of adenosine triphosphate in activated sludge from aeration tanks. Extraction of the nucleotides in boiling distilled water was followed by removal of the protein impurities by acidification. Barium salts of di- and triphosphates of the nucleotides were precipitated and the precipitate was washed and dissolved in acid to convert the barium salts to sodium salts. The quantity of adenosine triphosphate was determined quantitatively by inorganic phosphorus in the liquid over the precipitate before and after acid hydrolysis, and by ultraviolet absorption spectra. The method was tested in activated sludge from operational sewage works. There was good agreement between the adenosine triphosphate content determined spectrophotometrically and by phosphorus, despite the presence of small quantities of secondary impurities. 

Patterson et al. [6] carried out determinations of adenosine triphosphate in activated sludge. The method involved the use of firefly lantern extract. 

Similarly, specific catalysts called enzymes are important factors in determining what reactions occur at an appreciable rate in biological systems. For example, adenosine triphosphate is thermodynamically unstable in aqueous solution with respect to hydrolysis to adenosine diphosphate and inorganic phosphate. Yet this reaction proceeds very slowly in the absence of the specific enzyme adenosine triphosphatase. This combination of thermodynamic control of direction and enzyme control of rate makes possible the finely balanced system that is a hving cell. 

Adenosine triphosphate is utilized in portions of the cell other than the mitochondria and chloroplasts therefore, the utilization as well as the production of ATP is of importance to total adenylate status. As a result, it became important to consider total ATP content of plants. When detached pinto bean leaves were exposed to 1,0 yl/1 ozone for 30 min total ATP content of the leaf decreased (12), Since ozone altered leaf ATP content it could also alter the leaf s adenylate status we wished to determine if a correlation existed between alteration in adenylates and the change previously reported in photosynthesis and respiration. Since ATP is readily broken down by adenosine triphosphatases, a reliable method of extraction and quantitative method of ATP analysis was designed for the study (8),... 

In the presence of adenosine triphosphate, flavenoids were observed to inhibit hydroxyl radical formation [63]. These contrasting results further emphasize that the effect of iron chelators is highly dependent on the other species present. The relative efficiencies of the chelators for hydroxyl radical formation will determine whether the added chelator will have a positive or negative effect on radical formation. Furthermore, increased radical formation is not always correlated with improved pollutant degradation. Catechol groups and 4-keto,5-hydroxyl benzene groups are believed to be important iron coordination sites for flavenoids [63]. 

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