The screening for new inhibitors of steroid sulfatase requires an efficient test system. To overcome the shortcomings of the available discontinuous fluorimetric assay, several coumarin-type compounds were investigated as potential new substrates. 3,4-Benzocoumarin 7-O-sulfate was found to have appropriate substrate properties for the establishment of the first direct continuous assay of steroid sulfatase. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
The sulphatase of ox liver. 1. The complex nature of the enzyme