The Lowry Method for Protein Quantitation

Abstract

The most accurate method of determining protein concentration is probably acid hydrolysis followed by amino acid analysis. Most other methods are sensitive to the amino acid composition of the protein, and absolute concentrations cannot be obtained (1). The procedure of Lowry et al. (2) is no exception, but its sensitivity is moderately constant from protein to protein, and it has been so widely used that Lowry protein estimations are a completely acceptable alternative to a rigorous absolute determination in almost all circumstances in which protein mixtures or crude extracts are involved.

The method is based on both the Biuret reaction, in which the peptide bonds of proteins react with copper under alkaline conditions to produce Cu⁺, which reacts with the Folin reagent, and the Folin—Ciocalteau reaction, which is poorly understood but in essence phosphomolybdotungstate is reduced to heteropoly-bdenum blue by the copper-catalyzed oxidation of aromatic amino acids. The reactions result in a strong blue color, which depends partly on the tyrosine and tryptophan content. The method is sensitive down to about 0.01 mg of protein/ mL, and is best used on solutions with concentrations in the range 0.01–1.0 mg/mL of protein.