You could call it hair-splitting, but it seems a small mistake has
occured concerning the nomenclature of the enzyme ‘creatine kinase’ (EC
2.7.3.2): several times the enzyme was called ‘creatinine kinase’. The
enzyme creatine kinase catalyzes the formation of phosphocreatine from ATP
and creatine (and the reverse reaction). Other names for this enzyme are
‘ATP:creatine N-phosphotransferase’ (this systematic name is not usually
used in a clinical setting) or ‘creatine phosphokinase’ (which is a bit
obsolete by now). More information on the nomenclature of this enzyme can
be found on http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/enzyme/.
The existence of an enzyme called creatinine kinase, has not been
reported yet.
Only two characters make the difference between creatinine and
creatine and of course everybody knows what enzyme is ment in this
context, but mixing up words only differing two characters (e.g. perineum
and perineurium) could sometimes cause confusing situations.
What’s in a name..
Competing interests:
No competing interests
18 February 2002
Mario Berth
Clinical biologist in training, MD.
Laboratory of Clinical Biology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Rapid Response:
Creatine versus Creatinine
You could call it hair-splitting, but it seems a small mistake has
occured concerning the nomenclature of the enzyme ‘creatine kinase’ (EC
2.7.3.2): several times the enzyme was called ‘creatinine kinase’. The
enzyme creatine kinase catalyzes the formation of phosphocreatine from ATP
and creatine (and the reverse reaction). Other names for this enzyme are
‘ATP:creatine N-phosphotransferase’ (this systematic name is not usually
used in a clinical setting) or ‘creatine phosphokinase’ (which is a bit
obsolete by now). More information on the nomenclature of this enzyme can
be found on http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/enzyme/.
The existence of an enzyme called creatinine kinase, has not been
reported yet.
Only two characters make the difference between creatinine and
creatine and of course everybody knows what enzyme is ment in this
context, but mixing up words only differing two characters (e.g. perineum
and perineurium) could sometimes cause confusing situations.
What’s in a name..
Competing interests: No competing interests