Biochemical Changes in Liver Associated with Kwashiorkor1

Enzyme Activities in Human Liver

“…These entail alterations of enzyme activities which are partly undefined and partly proven to be considerable. At any rate, different enzyme activities are affected differently [25,63,77,86,139,141,162,178,188,214,218] (table I). Depending on the circumstances, this may be avoided by performing blind biopsies immediately Activities in U/g [218].…”

“…[25], and no alteration of LDH [257]. Vitamine defi ciency has been singled out by the authors as a cause of importance [25,129,257].…”

“…[25], and no alteration of LDH [257]. Vitamine defi ciency has been singled out by the authors as a cause of importance [25,129,257]. They consider protein deficiency to be primarily responsible, and they found that it results in enzyme activity altera tions different from those found in total starvation [219].…”

Serum Aspartate and Alanine Aminotransferase Activities in Protein Energy Malnutrition

“…The reduction of serum albumin and total proteins in PEM has been shown to be due to reduced synthesis of the proteins because of inadequate intake of dietary proteins and loss of liver protein [1], The ratio of serum albumin/globulin is severely altered among our patients. Since most plasma proteins are synthesized by the liver, a decrease in serum albumin may also reflect some hepatocellu lar damage.…”

“…Fatty liver is almost always present in pro tein energy malnutrition (PEM), but there is adequate evidence to show that this damage is due to fatty degeneration of the hepatic cells [1,2]. There is no doubt that this fatty degeneration of the liver cells in PEM has resulted in some liver dysfunction affecting the synthesis of some serum and red cell enzymes [3][4][5], Baron [4] from his work in Nigeria found that the activities of aspartate aminotrans ferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in the serum were significantly raised dren.…”