I would like to be able to go from units of enzyme activity by volume to mass of protein, without knowing the concentration of the protein, I know the solution of the enzyme and the mass of the tissue taken, any help is appreciated
Enzyme activity is a measure of the catalytic activity of an enzyme, which is usually expressed in enzyme units (U) or international units (IU). One U or IU is defined as the amount of enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of one micromole of substrate per minute under specified conditions. Enzyme activity can also be expressed in terms of concentration, such as U/mL or IU/mL.
To convert enzyme activity from U/mL or IU/mL to U/mg or IU/mg, you need to know the concentration of protein in mg/mL. This can be measured by various methods, such as Bradford assay, Lowry assay, or BCA assay. Then, you can divide the enzyme activity by the protein concentration to get the specific enzyme activity, which is the number of enzyme units per mg of protein.
However, if you don't know the protein concentration, you cannot convert enzyme activity from U/mL or IU/mL to U/mg or IU/mg directly. You need to either measure the protein concentration or estimate it based on some assumptions. For example, if you know the tissue mass and the enzyme solution volume, you can assume a certain protein content per gram of tissue (such as 100 mg/g) and calculate the protein concentration in mg/mL. However, this may not be very accurate and may vary depending on the type and condition of the tissue.
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