Description
Isoenzymes are different molecular forms of the same enzyme and five major lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoenzymes are found in vertebrate tissues. The amounts of the isoenzymes vary in a tissue specific manner and these differences can be readily detected by localizing LDH activity in an agarose gel after electrophoresis of tissue extracts. In this exercise, students prepare a tissue extract from calf thymus and then compare the LDH isoenzyme profile to those from calf serum, heart and muscle.