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Cathepsin Zymography

Zymography is a type of gel electrophoresis that uses a polyacrylamide gel co-polymerized with a substrate in order to detect enzyme activity. Cathepsin zymography separates different cathepsins based on their migration through a polyacrylamide gel co-polymerized with a gelatin substrate. The electrophoresis takes place in non-reducing conditions. After protein concentration is determined, equal amounts of tissue protein are loaded into a gel. The protein is then allowed to migrate through the gel. After electrophoresis, the gel is put into a renaturing buffer in order to return the cathepsins to their native conformation. The gel is then put into an activation buffer of a specific pH and left to incubate overnight at 37 ºC. This activation step allows the cathepsins to degrade the gelatin substrate. When the gel is stained using a Coomassie blue stain, areas of the gel still containing gelatin appear blue. The areas of the gel where cathepsins were active appear as white bands. The different cathepsins can be identified based on their migration distance due to their molecular weights: cathepsin K (~37 kDa), V (~35 kDa), S (~25kDa), and L (~20 kDa). Cathepsins have specific pH levels at which they have optimum proteolytic activity. Cathepsin K is able to degrade gelatin at pH 7 and 8, but these pH levels do not allow for cathepsins L and V activity. At a pH 4 cathepsin V is active, but cathepsin K is not. Adjusting the pH of the activation buffer can allow for further identification of cathepsin types.