<div style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size:
1= 6px"><div>It is good that the pathologist you work with
takes an= interest in histochemical methodology, but when and where
did he lear= n elementary biology?</div><div
><br/></div><div>W= hen I was a schoolboy in the 1950s
the biology teacher told us that dias= tase and amylase were different
names for the enzyme in saliva and pancr= eatic juice that digests
starch. This was also true in my two prec= linical years at
medical school (early 1960s). The biochemistry teache= rs told us
more about starch and its animal equivalent glycogen, both
digestible by amylase. Our early-1960s textbooks told us about
Claude = Bernard, the great French physiologist who discovered the
properties= of glycogen in the mid-1800s and experimentally
demonstrated the func= tion of the liver in glucose metabolism and
homeostasis.</div><d= iv
><br/></div><div>According to the Sigma catalogue, di astase is
now "an obsolete synonym for
alpha-amylase".= The same catalogue lists alpha-amylases
from many sources, includin= g malt. (They also sell
beta-amylases, which would also catalyze = the hydrolysis of
glycogen.) Sigma's least expensive alpha-amyl= ase is from
human saliva.</div><div ><br/></div><div= >Any
amylase will do the job. Go with the cheapest. Human drooli= ngs
are free and do not contain enzymes that will digest and solubilize
polysaaccharides other than glygogen and starch. This is traditional
h= istochemistry, well documented in textbooks and peer-reviewed
papers f= or about 100 years.</div><div
><br/></div><div>Joh= n
Kiernan</div><div>Anatomy, UWO</div><div>London,
C= anada</div><div>= = =<br />On 04/02/11, <b
class== "name">"Ruppert, Amysue"
</b><ruppe= [email protected]>
wrote:</div><blockq= uote
cite="mid:201102050003.p15030nh007461@spamfilt" class= "iwcQuote"
style="border-left: #00f 1px solid;
padding-lef= t: 13px; margin-left: 0px"
type="cite"><div class="= mimepart text
plain">Hello,<br /> We are looking to switch f= rom malt
diastase digestion for glycogen to Amylase digestion. I have = the
new protocol worked up, but one of the Pathologists I work with wo uld
like to have an idea of how many labs out there are using Amylase
in= stead of malt diastase for their PAS/D method.<br /> If
you use = amylase for the PAS/D method, could you please let me know
who you are= and the institiution?<br /> Much
appreciated.<br /><br = />amysue ruppert<br />Histology
lab<br />Marshfield Labs<br = />Marshfield WI<br /><br
/>____________ _______________________ 5F _______________________
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information. If you= received this message in error, you should
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Thank you for your cooperation.<br /> </div></blockquote></div>
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