COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SERUM GUANASE AND ALT ACTIVITIES IN THE OBESE

To evaluate serum guanase (GU) activity in the obese, serum alanine aminotransf erase (ALT) and GU activities in donor and patient bloods were investigated in terms of obesity. In donor blood, serum ALT activity was significantly higher as the degree ofobesity inceased, while serum GU activity showed no significant difference. Serum ALT activity was abnormal in 2.2 and serum GU activity in 2.0%, but little correspondence was seen between ALT-abnormal blood and GU-abnormal blood and many ALT-abnormal donors were obese. In patient blood, serum ALT and GU activities in patients with fatty liver were significantly higher than in healthy persons; however, mean ALT activity was beyond the normal range, while mean GU activity remained within the normal range. In the blood of patients without chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and alcoholic liver disease, serum ALT activity was significantly higher with the degree of obesity, while serum GU activity showed no significant relationship to obesity. These results suggested that elevation of serum ALT activity caused by obesity could be differentiated by measurement of serum GU activity.