Rapid Assay of Poly(ADP-ribose) Glycohydrolase

We have developed a rapid, highly reproducible assay to determine poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase activity which measures directly the appearance of the reaction product. We also analysed the majority of different techniques which are used to determine poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase activity and found that the apparent activity can vary extensively depending on the method used. Thin-layer chromatography using PEI-F-cellulose was the only method which evaluated directly the specific release of ADP-ribose; by comparison with this method, the other procedures gave an over- or under-estimation of 2- to 10-fold of the enzymatic activity. A rapid method of affinity chromatography has also been developed to synthesize and purify in high yield poly(ADP-ribose) (35% conversion of 1 mM NAD to poly(ADP-ribose)).