Glutamic Pyruvic Transaminase Values Research Articles

Control of experimental traumatic hepatic hemorrhage by transcatheter embolization.

The feasibility of control of traumatic hepatic hemorrhage by angiographic transcatheter embolization was investigated. Bleeding sites were created in the livers of each of twelve dogs, and the hepatic artery was occluded with Gelfoam. Successful control of bleeding was demonstrated by postembolization angiography in all twelve animals. Initial elevations in alkaline phosphatase and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase values returned to their baseline in four weeks. Recanalization of the hepatic artery in the five surviving animals was shown by follow-up angiograms. Transcatheter embolic control of traumatic hepatic hemorrhage may be a useful adjunct to surgical therapy.

Primary Cytomegalovirus Infection and Liver Involvement in Early Infancy

Virus isolation and determination of serum transaminase activity in 237 patients under one year of age were undertaken to clarify the etiologic significance of primary infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) in infancy. The rates of virus recovery from infants with liver involvement were 37% (29/78) and 42% (28/66), as determined by serum glutamic oxaloacetic (S-GOT) and serum glutamic pyruvic (S-GPT) transaminase values. In contrast, CMV was recovered from 14% (18/127) and 13% (18/141) of infants with normal S-GOT and S-GPT values. The differences in the rates of virus recovery between both groups were more pronounced in infants under three months of age, that is, 5 to 7 times higher rates in infants with liver involvement. Correlation between complement-fixing antibody and liver involvement, however, was not significant, probably because of the influence by maternal antibody. Majority of infants infected with CMV are postulated to involve liver during immediate months after onset of virus excretion.

The Holy Cross College Football Team Hepatitis Outbreak

During a 15-day period in September and October 1969, an outbreak of infectious hepatitis affected the members of a college football team. Of 97 persons exposed, 90 were infected, 32 experienced typical icteric disease, 22 were anicteric but symptomatic, and 36 asymptomatic players were recognized as having significantly elevated serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase values (> 100 units). Other athletes, using the same facilities but arriving six days after the established date of exposure, were unaffected. The decision to obtain blood samples from the entire team, as soon as the initial cases were recognized, resulted in the demonstration of an unexpectedly high attack rate of 93%. Epidemiologic investigation revealed that an infected group of children in the neighborhood, an imperfect drinking water supply, a warm August day, a football team in training, and a local fire were links in the chain which resulted in this most unusual outbreak of infectious hepatitis.

Serum biochemical changes in mice infected with Trypanosoma rhodesiense and Trypanosoma duttoni

Significant biochemical changes were measured in the serum of mice infected with Trypanosoma rhodesiense or T. duttoni. Mice infected with T. rhodesiense were sorted into groups as follows: those with (1) acute infections, (2) drug-suppressed chronic infections, (3) “drug-cured” infections, and (4) drug-treated, no infection. Biochemical tests were performed on the serum of each animal 2 days before inoculation and subsequently on days 1, 3, 5, 8, 15, 22, and 29. Five days after infection glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), creatinine, bromsulphalein retention, total protein, alpha-2 globulin, and gamma-globulin values increased while glucose and beta globulin decreased. These values returned to essentially normal levels when parasites were cleared from the peripheral blood. The following components were not altered significantly: blood-urea nitrogen, sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, and carbon dioxide. In mice infected with T. duttoni changes in GPT, GOT, creatinine, total protein, and gamma globulin took place later and were not as great as those in animals infected with T. rhodesiense. Some serum biochemical changes appeared to be related directly to the number of parasites in the circulating blood.

A toxicologic study of mithramycin

The acute intravenous toxicity of mithramycin in mice and rats was 2.14 and 1.74 mg/kg, respectively. Mithramycin was not toxic orally in mice or rats at the doses studied. Mithramycin was essentially nontoxic when administered to dogs at doses of 0.025 and 0.050 mg/kg/day and to monkeys at doses of 0.025 mg/kg/day for a total of 24 doses over a 28-day period. Mithramycin was lethal to dogs and monkeys when administered intravenously at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg/day. Signs of toxicosis in dogs and monkeys seen in this study were anorexia, emesis, listlessness, melena, anemia, lymphopenia, and elevated alkaline phosphatase, serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase, and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase values. Dogs also demonstrated marked thrombocytopenia. Necropsy findings were characterized by necrosis of lymphoid tissue and multiple hemorrhages throughout the body.

Encephalopathy and Fatty Degeneration of the Liver and Kidneys

IN 1963, Reye et al1described a new clinicopathologic entity: encephalopathy and fatty degeneration of the viscera. The illness began with a mild upper-respiratory-tract infection which subsided and was followed by profuse vomiting, fever, convulsions, and marked alteration in consciousness, respirations, muscle tone, and deep-tendon reflexes. Laboratory findings included hypoglycemia, hypoglycorrhachia, mild acidosis and ketosis and elevation of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase values. Seventeen of the 21 patients died. At postmortem examination, diffuse cerebral swelling, without herniation, and marked fatty infiltration of the liver and proximal tubules of the kidneys were uniformly demonstrated. Although about 50 patients have been described in the English, Australian, and New Zealand literature, only recently have similar reports appeared from the United States.2-5This is the report of another patient and a review of the features of this unusual illness.

Parallelism between Semen Characteristics and Glutamic-Oxalacetic Transaminase, Glutamic-Pyruvic Transaminase Activities1,2

Bovine semen samples were assayed to ascertain whether glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase (GO-T) and glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (GP-T) have a role in semen metabolism. For GO-T and GP-T, respectively, the following means (SF units/milliliter) were obtained: spermatozoa free of seminal plasma 244.8, 25.0; seminal plasma 345.5, 18.1; spermatozoa corrected to 500×106 cells, 215.1 and 26.2. These data indicated that GO-T activity of spermatozoa showed significant parallelism with various semen characteristics investigated. However, GP-T failed to reveal any significant relationships. Conversely, when GP-T values were adjusted to 500×106 cells per milliliter, then GP-T showed significant relationship with the semen characteristics. The GO-T activity in seminal plasma was significantly correlated with the various semen characteristics. Levels of GP-T were significantly correlated with concentration, per cent live, and per cent abnormal cells. Significant correlations were found between semen characteristics and GP-T activity in seminal plasma when GP-T values were corrected to 500×106 cells in the original semen.

Hepatic Dysfunction and Jaundice in Patients Receiving Triacetyloleandomycin

TRIACETYLOLEANDOMYCIN (TriA), a drug that has been introduced for the treatment of infection caused by staphylococcic and other gram-positive organisms, has been widely used, minimal toxicity being reported. Several isolated cases of jaundice in children receiving the drug have been observed.1 , 2 Robinson,3 however, has recently reported that in 5 of 48 patients who received TriA for fourteen days or longer elevated serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase values developed. These observations seem at variance with the previous reports4 , 5 of lack of side effects in patients receiving the drug for periods of sixty days or more. The present study was undertaken in the . . .

Serum enzyme changes in dogs exposed repeatedly to severe altitude hypoxia.

Blood values were determined on dogs exposed to a simulated altitude of 32,000 ft for 4 hr five times weekly for 7 weeks. Serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase and serum lactic dehydrogenase values showed a gradual increase during the 7 weeks, while serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase values stabilized by the 2nd week at slightly above initial normal values. Serum alkaline phosphatase and serum aldolase values stabilized after the 3rd week at two to three times the initial values. After cessation of exposures, values dropped sharply during the first 2 weeks and slowly approached normal values at the end of 6 weeks. A subsequent single 4-hr exposure to 32,000 ft evoked the usual transient sharp rise in serum enzyme values, but not the typical hyperglycemic response, observed before the acclimatization. Terminal pathologic studies revealed minor residual lesions, attributable to the repeated exposures, which may account in part for the slow restoration of normal values after cessation of exposures.

Serum transaminase activity in neonatal period: valuable and in differential diagnosis of jaundice in the newborn infant.

Clinical and laboratory data have been obtained showing that the differential diagnosis of neonatal icterus is facilitated by serial measurements of transaminase activity of the serum. In 63 normal newborn infants the glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (GO-T) activity levels ranged from 13 to 120 units; for glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GP-T) the range was 12 to 90 units. In infants with neonatal icterus classified as physiological, transaminase activity remained within the normal range, and no correlation was found between the intensity of the icterus and the transaminase activity. Data from 15 infants (including previously published data on nine), with jaundice due to pathological conditions, indicate that characteristic patterns of enzyme activity appear for each of the varied causes of neonatal icterus. In infants with extrahepatic infection and usually in those with hemolytic conditions the enzyme activity remains within the normal range. However, in an infant with a fulminant form of hemolytic disease of the newborn, GO-T activity alone was transiently elevated to about 300 units. In all cases of biliary obstruction the GO-T and GP-T values rose gradually to levels below 800 units. In an infant with very mild acute hepatitis (homologous serum) the enzyme activity rose sharply during the stage of increasing hyperbilirubinemia to well above 800 units (to 1140 units) and fell sharply thereafter. Serial determinations of serum transaminase activity in cases of neonatal icterus, therefore, aid in recognition of patients requiring surgery.