Identification of Catalase Following Electrophoresis on Acrylamide Gels

During the performance of haptoglobin typing by a new technic described by the author, a clear zone was observed in the acrylamide gels used for electrophoresis. Investigations to determine the identity of this zone have shown it to be associated with catalase activity. Consequently, a new technic is presented for identifying catalase following electrophoretic separation of hemolysates. Twenty-five hemolysates from normal human subjects were investigated by this method and were found to contain catalase activity which had the same electrophoretic mobility in all cases. Six normal human sera did not contain this activity under the conditions employed. The catalase activity was found to migrate immediately behind the haptoglobin type 1-1 band.