[First domestic production of transaminase assay reagents].

Ultraviolet absorption has continued to improve and has become a commonly used method. The development of automated instruments has also contributed to its use, making the Reitman-Frankel Method retire from the prominent stage it once occupied. While the Camen Method was indicated to be short of substrates, it is now used after incorporating improvements proposed from various countries, including the JSCC recommendation from Japan, as a titration method for the enzyme reference materials. The JSCC Common Standards Method was further provisioned through detailed examinations ot its reagents and processes, and is utilized under strict conditions. Standardization has thus evolved from more technique to what includes reference materials.

An appreciation of Professor Alexander E. Braunstein. The discovery and scope of enzymatic transamination.

Nonenzymatic transamination was discovered in the early 1930s. In the mid-1930s Braunstein and associates discovered the process of enzymatic transamination and established the biological significance of this reaction. Over the next 50 years, Braunstein and coworkers continued to contribute many new ideas and make important discoveries in the field of aminotransferases and other pyridoxal 5'-phosphate enzymes. This review outlines (1) the events leading to the discovery of enzymatic transamination, (2) how the discovery was made, (3) the findings that led to the recognition by the mid-1950s of the very wide scope and biological importance of aminotransferase reactions, and (4) the elucidation of the primary amino acid sequence and three-dimensional structure of aspartate aminotransferases.

[Enzymatic transamination: the history of its discovery and milestones in the study of its mechanism and biological role (on the 50th anniversary of its discovery)]. / Enzimaticheskoe transaminirovanie: istoriia otkrytiia i osnovnye étapy izucheniia mekhanizma i biologicheskoi roli (k 50-letiiu otkrytiia).

The history of discovery of enzymic transamination is described. A survey presents the crucial steps of the investigations of the catalytic mechanisms and metabolic functions of transaminases.