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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1973 February; 25(2): 195-201
Copyright © 1973 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Applications of a Synthetic Neuraminidase Substrate

¹ Department of Microbiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York, New York, New York 10029

ABSTRACT

A rapid and precise assay for neuraminidase using 2-(3'-methoxyphenyl)-N-acetyl--neuraminic acid (MPN) is described. It is proposed that this substrate be used for the standardization of activity of neuraminidases from viral, bacterial, and mammalian sources. MPN is also used as a chromogenic substrate to localize influenza and parainfluenza virus foci in tissue culture. This technique permits the recovery of infective virus from these stained "plaques." It has also been demonstrated that immunoprecipitin lines containing neuraminidase complexes with antibody in the Ouchterlony test can be observed by a similar staining procedure. No enzyme inhibition occurs in the presence of anti-neuraminidase antibodies or concanavalin A when MPN is used as a substrate in contrast to the results with high-molecular-weight substrates such as fetuin.