Differential serum amylase determination by use of an inhibitor, and design of a routine procedure.

We describe a new method for measuring pancreatic and salivary-type amylases in 
serum that requires no electrophoresis or chromatography. An inhibitor protein (from 
wheat) with a 100-fold greater specificity for human salivary than for 
human pancreatic amylase was used to analyze mixtures of the two 
enzymes. The concentration of pancreatic and salivary amyalase was determined in 
141 normal sera (72 men and 69 women). Statistically significant differences 
were found for serum pancreatic amylase between mean and women, higher 
values being shown in women. No sex-related difference was found for 
the salivary component of serum amylase. With this method, the increase 
in serum amylase activity in pancreatitis was shown to be attributable 
to the pancreatic component. In mumps, the increase is attributable to 
the salivary component. In pancreatic insufficiency, serum pancreatic amylase activities were 
significantly lower than in the controls. Our method is simple and 
rapid; our results agree well with those of other authors who 
used chromatographic or electrophoretic methods. 