Serum aldolase and phosphocreatine kinase in umbilical cord blood

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Aldolase was estimated in the cord blood of 81 newborn infants and phosphocreatine kinase in 87 infants. There is a wide range in the results, with some values falling in the range reported in children with muscular dystrophy or of carriers of the disease. There is no correlation of the serum enzyme levels with the infant's birth weight. High levels of phosphocreatine kinase were found in infants of mothers with pre-eclamptic toxaemia. A single estimation of cord phosphocreatine kinase and aldolase is of little help in determining whether or not an infant has muscular dystrophy.

Serum Enzymes in the Neonatal Period

“…The high serum levels of CPK, LDH, ALD and SGOT we report on the 4th day of life in term infants were already observed by different authors dur ing the neonatal period [4,6,8,10,11]. Tissue anoxia and hemolysis are gen erally held responsible for the high enzyme activities in the neonate [2,4,14], The rise of these serum enzymes in anoxia is well-known even when muscle trauma is not apparent.…”

“…Tissue anoxia and hemolysis are gen erally held responsible for the high enzyme activities in the neonate [2,4,14], The rise of these serum enzymes in anoxia is well-known even when muscle trauma is not apparent.…”

“…The origin of the enzymes is still hypothetical: maternal [4], placental or fetal [14], Indeed these enzymes are present in the maternal organism (myo metrium), they are described in the placenta [1,4], they are abundant in the striated fetal muscle and except CPK, they are present in the red blood cell. Now the weeks following delivery are characterized by a physiological hemo lytic anemia especially in the premature infant.…”

“…The activity of these enzymes in the normal neonate has been the object of numerous reports [2,4,6,8,10,11,14]. How ever, the results obtained are difficult to compare for several reasons: the techniques used, the circumstances of delivery and the age at which the blood has been collected vary considerably from one study to the other.…”

Clinical value of plasma creatine kinase and uric acid levels during first week of life

“…It is not known, however, whether at this age the creatine kinase level of a boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy would be much higher than our observed range, or whether it would be 'lost' in the upper limits of the normal range. In their discussions of creatine kinase levels in cord blood Chadd et al (1966) and Griffiths (1968) have favoured the latter possibility, but there seems no a priori reason for discounting the former alternative. Our experience with Case 13 (Table V), however, suggests that uric acid levels in the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome are well above the normal range from the early days of life, though some caution is necessary since the level had fallen to the 90th centile some 5 days later.…”