Abstract: A method for quantitatively determining LDL cholesterol, including the steps of adding to serum a surfactant selected from among polyoxyethylenealkylene phenyl ethers and polyoxyethylenealkylene tribenzylphenyl ethers and a cholesterol-assaying enzyme reagent so as to preferentially react cholesterols in high density- and very low density-cholesterols among lipoproteins, and subsequently determining the amount of cholesterol that reacts thereafter. This method can eliminate the necessity for pretreatments such as centrifugation and electrophoresis, enables the quantitative determination to be conducted in an efficient, simple manner, and can be applied to various automatic analyzers.

Abstract: A method for measuring hypochlorite ion, which comprises the steps of: (A) reacting, with hypochlorite ion, a compound represented by the following general formula (I): wherein R1 represents a 2-carboxyphenyl group which may be substituted; R2 represents a phenyl group which is substituted with a substituted or unsubstituted amino group; X1 and X2 each independently represents either hydrogen atom or a halogen atom; or a salt thereof; and (B) measuring fluorescence of a dearylated compound generated in the aforementioned step (A) or a salt thereof.

Abstract: A compound represented by the following formula (I) or (II): wherein, in the formula (I), R1, R2, R3, and R4 independently represent methyl group or ethyl group; and in the formula (II), R5, R6, R7, and R8 independently represent methyl group or ethyl group and X— represents an anion, and a reagent for measurement of nitric oxide which comprises said compound.

Abstract: A D-aminoacylase having a high substrate specificity is provided. This D-aminoacylase can produce D-amino acids from N-acetyl-D,L-amino acids conveniently and efficiently at a low cost. A D-aminoacylase produced by a microorganism of genus Defluvibacter; which acts on a N-acetyl-D-amino acid; which has a molecular weight (as determined by electrophoresis) of about 55,000 daltons, and an isoelectric point (as determined by two-dimensional electrophoresis for denatured system) of 5.3; which acts on N-acetyl-D-valine, N-acetyl-D-leucine, and the like, but not on N-acetyl-L-valine, N-acetyl-L-leucine, and the like; which has an optimal temperature of 37° C. (pH 8) and an optimal pH value of 8 to 8.5 at 37° C.; and whose activity is inhibited by Mn2+, Co2+, Ni2+, and Zn2+ each at 1 mmol/L, and by dithiothreitol, 2-mercaptoethanol, o-phenanthroline, and L-cysteine each at 5 mmol/L.

Abstract: A method of a pretreatment of a sample for quantitating cholesterol characterized by, before measuring cholesterol contained in specific lipoproteins, treating the sample containing lipoproteins with an enzyme, the substrate of which is free cholesterol, optionally together with a reaction accelerator; a method for quantitating cholesterol in specific lipoproteins by using the above method; and a kit for quantitating cholesterol in specific lipoproteins to be used in the above quantification method. By using this quantification method, cholesterol in a specific fraction can be conveniently, accurately and efficiently quantitated fundamentally without resort to polyanion, etc. Thus, this method is appropriately usable in various automatic analyzers.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a defructosylation enzyme originating from a plant, a method of defructosylating a fructosylated peptide or protein through use of the enzyme, and a method of measuring a fructosylated peptide or protein.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a monoclonal antibody against a soluble fibrin, which specifically recognizes a conformation-changed site newly occurred in a C-terminal region of an A?-chain of the soluble fibrin formed through thrombin digestion of fibrinogen. The present invention is also directed to a hybridoma which produces the antibody, an immunological assay method employing the antibody, and a method for evaluating hypercoagulability in a test sample by measuring the soluble fibrin level in the sample with the assay method. Through employment of the monoclonal antibody of the present invention, soluble fibrin on which plasmin has not acted, which reflects exclusively initial hypercoagulability, can be specifically detected.

Abstract: A method for measuring a glycated protein, a glycated peptide, or a glycated amino acid is provided. In this method, proteolytic activity of the protease is controlled to thereby realize high accuracy of the measurement. Also provided is a reagent used in such a measurement. More specifically, this invention provides a method of measuring a glycated protein, a glycated peptide, or a glycated amino acid comprising the steps of treating a sample containing the glycated protein with a protease for releasing a glycated peptide or a glycated amino acid; reacting the released glycated peptide or glycated amino acid with corresponding oxidase for generation of hydrogen peroxide; and measuring the resulting hydrogen peroxide with peroxidase and an oxidizable color developing reagent; wherein reaction solution before the reaction with the oxidase is adjusted to a pH of 1 to 5; and a reagent used in such measurement.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for quantitatively determining a reducing substance, which comprises reacting a reducing substance in a test specimen with iron (III) ions, reacting iron (II) ions formed by reduction of the iron (III) ions or residual iron (III) ions with a metal indicator which is capable of reacting specifically with the iron (II) ions or the residual iron (III) ions to undergo color development, and carrying out quantitative determination by measuring the degree of color development, wherein a chelating agent which is specific to copper ions is added to the test specimen before the reaction of the reducing substance with the iron (III) ions; and a reagent used for it.

Abstract: A method for quantitatively determining a specific component in a biological specimen, which includes reacting a biological specimen, in the presence of an electron acceptor, with an enzyme which has an ability, by the dehydrogenation reaction, to oxidize the specific component or a substance derived from the specific component, and measuring the formed reductant of the electron acceptor, wherein the method avoids the influence of hemoglobin effectively if any contained in the specimen by using a measuring reagent containing albumin, thereby making an quantitative determination of the target component accurately; and a reagent for the quantitative determination.

Abstract: The present invention provides a convenient, efficient method for determining a substrate contained in a hemoglobin-containing sample and a reagent therefor, which can be employed for a variety of automatic analyzers while reducing interference of hemoglobin contained in the sample. A method for determining a substrate contained in a hemoglobin-containing sample through reaction of an oxidase with the substrate and optical measurement of the produced hydrogen peroxide by use of a peroxidase and an oxidizable color producing reagent, characterized in that the hemoglobin-containing sample is treated with an anionic surfactant selected from among a polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate salt, a polyoxyethylene alkylphenyl ether sulfate salt, a polyoxyethylene alkyl ether phosphate, a polyoxyethylene alkyl sulfosuccinate, a polyoxyethylene alkyl ether carboxylate salt, a polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfonate salt, triethanolamine lauryl sulfate, an alkyl sulfosuccinate, and an alkylphenyl ether sulfonate salt.

Abstract: A compound represented by the following formula (I): wherein R1 and R2 represent amino groups that substitute at adjacent positions on the phenyl ring, provided that either of R1 and R2 represents a mono(C1-6 alkyl)-substituted amino group and the other represents an unsubstituted amino group; and R3 and R4 independently represent hydrogen atom or an acyl group, and an agent for measurement of nitrogen monoxide which comprises said compound.

Abstract: A method of estimating a risk of the expression of an adverse drug reaction caused by the administration of irinotecan; and a method of reducing the adverse drug reaction caused by the administration of irinotecan. A polymorphism on the basis of a difference in the repeating numbers of TA repetitive sequences in the promoter region of UGT1 gene and two types of polymorphisms (bases at the 211- and 686-positions) on the basis of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the exon 1 are analyzed. Based on the analytical data, the risk of the expression of an adverse drug reaction caused by the administration of irinotecan is estimated. Further, the administration doses of irinotecan is designed for individual patients depending on the risk of the expression of the adverse drug reaction, thereby reducing the adverse drug reaction cased by the administration of irinotecan.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for quantitatively determining homocysteine in a biological specimen containing homocysteine and cysteine by use of an enzyme which is capable of forming hydrogen sulfide both from homocysteine and from cysteine, which comprises (a) reacting the biological specimen with cysteine dioxygenase in the absence of a reducing agent, (b) subsequently reacting the resultant specimen of (a) with a reducing agent and the enzyme which is capable of forming hydrogen sulfide both from homocysteine and from cysteine, and (c) measuring the concentration of the hydrogen sulfide thus obtained to determine the homocysteine concentration in the biological specimen; and a reagent for such a quantitative determination of homocysteine.

Abstract: The present invention provides a screening method by which a prediabetic state can be more accurately determined and many test samples can be treated without physical burden on patients, and a diagnostic reagent used for it. By measuring a D-mannose concentration, preferably a D-mannose concentration and a glucose concentration, in a body fluid collected from a subject, and comparing them with their respective standard values, a patient in a prediabetic state can be detected. Further, the measurement of the mannose concentration is conducted by allowing an enzyme having an oxidizing activity on mannose by dehydrogenation to react on the mannose in a sample in the presence of an electron acceptor, and quantitatively determining the formed reductant of the electron acceptor.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of pretreating a sample for conveniently, quickly and accurately measuring the total amount of adiponectin present in a biological sample contaminated with various adiponectin multimers. The method of measuring an sample for immunologically assaying the total amount of adiponectin present in the sample comprises reacting, with an adiponectin-containing sample, at least one of a reducing agent, an acid or a salt thereof, a surfactant, and a protease.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a defructosylation enzyme originating from a plant, a method of defructosylating a fructosylated peptide or protein through use of the enzyme, and a method of measuring a fructosylated peptide or protein.

Abstract: We have discovered a “human adiponectin ELISA kit”, which can specifically measure adiponectin in human blood serum (or blood plasma) or in extracted fluid from lipocytes or culture supernatant fluid. After fractioning human serum by use of gel filtration column, each fraction was measured by the present kit, and as a result, adiponectin immunity activity was detected as a plurality of peaks at above 670 kD of molecular weight. From the results, it is presumed that adiponectin is present in the blood as a polymer or forms a complex with polymer proteins.

Abstract: Provided is a method for stabilizing a leuco dye, the method including storing a leuco dye in a solution in the co-presence of a protease protein.

Abstract: A method for measurement of a target substance in a sample by means of fluorescence, which comprises the step of carrying out the measurement in the presence of (1) a specific fluorescent probe which specifically reacts with the target substance to generate fluorescence, and (2) a donor which, per se, has long-lived fluorescence and is capable of inducing fluorescence resonance energy transfer to the specific fluorescent probe that acts as an acceptor, provided that the donor forms no binding to the specific fluorescent probe by means of a chemical bond; and the step of converting fluorescence, wherein said fluorescence is resulted from a reaction between the acceptor and the target substance, into long-lived excitation fluorescence by the fluorescence resonance energy transfer which is induced on the acceptor.