Dissemination of resistance plasmids among gentamicin-resistant enterobacteria from hospital patients.

Abstract

755concentrations closely similar to the range found in our present study. A conspicuous early ultrastructural feature of alcoholic liver damage is large, swollen mitochondria, suggesting that mitochondrial damage may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease. Enzyme analysis of isolated hepatocyte mitochondrial fractions from patients with alcoholic steatosis, however, has failed to show evidence of mitochondrial damage.-Concentrations of enzymes associated with mitochondrial membranes were unchanged but concentrations of enzymes in the mitochondrial matrix, including glutamate dehydrogenase, were significantly raised in alcoholic steatosis. This suggests that raised serum concentrations of glutamate dehydrogenase might be due to either hepatocyte damage or alcohol induction of liver mitochondrial enzyme activity.Our study has therefore failed to confirm the usefulness of serum concentrations of glutamate dehydrogenase as an indicator of liver damage in patients with chronic alcoholism.