A new and automated technique for the determination of glycogen

Abstract Current methods for the determination of glycogen prohibit the analysis of large numbers of tissue samples because of the number of steps inherent in the methods of analysis. During our studies, it was found that the concentration of products from the reaction between glycogen and sulfuric acid which are known to be red furfural derivatives, could readily be measured photometrically; such measurements, therefore, lend themselves to automation. A method for the automated determination of glycogen, based on the production of these furfural derivatives, is presented. The method is reproducible, sensitive, comparable to established methods, has the same specificity of the accepted anthrone methods, and above all is rapid, easy, and requires considerably less technical manipulation because of automation.