Clinical Chemistry AACC Online Job Center
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Clinical Chemistry 34: 525-527, 1988;
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an electronic Letter to
the Editor about this paper
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nemesanszky, E.
Right arrow Articles by Arato, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nemesanszky, E.
Right arrow Articles by Arato, M.

Clinical Chemistry, Vol 34, 525-527, Copyright © 1988 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Changes in serum enzymes in moderate drinkers after an alcohol challenge

E Nemesanszky, JA Lott and M Arato
First Department of Medicine, Postgraduate Medical School, Budapest, Hungary.

When 14 "moderate" drinkers abstained from alcohol for four weeks, the activity of gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT; EC 2.3.2.2) in their serum showed a large decrease. Immediately after the period of abstention, an orally given ethanol challenge of 1 g/kg produced a marked increase in serum GGT at 24 h, followed by a slow decline thereafter. Aspartate amino-transferase activity in serum was significantly increased at 24 h; however, alkaline phosphate, alanine aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase showed much smaller or no changes. An abnormal increase in lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme 5 was observed in seven subjects. In some of the moderate drinkers, liver biopsies showed mild chronic hepatitis or nonspecific changes. Eight nondrinking controls showed only slight increases in serum GGT following the same alcohol challenge; results for the other enzyme tests were unchanged. We consider it probable that pre-existing liver disease affects the response to ethanol, so that greater amounts of GGT are released from hepatic tissue; alternatively, drinkers may have a higher GGT activity in this tissue as a result of enzyme induction by ethanol. The alcohol challenge test was an effective discriminator between moderate drinkers and abstainers.




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1988 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.