Selective kinetic determination of pyridoxal-5'-phosphate with an ammonia gas-sensing electrode

The coenzyme pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP) is deiermined by in situ measurement of the rate of ammonia production using a potentiometric gas-sensing membrane electrode. It is shown that the initial rate of ammonia liberation from L-tryptophan by action of tryptophanase apoenzyme and the coenzyme can be linearly related to PLP levels in the nanogram range with minimal interference from related compounds. Calibration data for the 1 × 10^-7–2.5 × 10^-6 M range for PLP yielded a least-squares equation of rate (mV min^-1) = (0.64 ± 0.01) C — 0.01 ± 0.02 with a standard error of 0.02 mV min^-1, where concentration, C, is expressed in units of 10^-7 mol l^-1.