Enzymic determination of ammonia in food by flow injection
Abstract
Ammonia in food samples was determined by its reaction in an immobilised enzyme reactor containing glutamate dehydrogenase (GIDH) in a flow injection system, by measuring the decrease in the absorbance of ultraviolet radiation by reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH). There was a linear relationship (r= 0.9995) between peak height and ammonia concentration over the range 0.05–0.6 mM. The detection limit was 0.005 mM for an injection volume of 19 µl. Sampling frequency was 60 h–1 and the precision was better than 1.09% for 11 successive assays. The interference effect of urea and ascorbic acid at concentrations greater than 100 mg per 100 g of product should be taken into account. The interference caused by glycine, creatinine and amino acids is negligible. Only a 20% loss in the activity of the GIDH column was observed after 500 determinations during a 3-month period.