[Relations between protidopoiesis and biological transmethylations: action of S-adenosylmethionine on protein crasis in chronic hepatopathies].

After a diffuse introductory discussion on S-adenosylmethionine methyltransferase activity, the results of an experimental trial carried out on 70 hospitalized patients with chronic hepatitis either persistent or aggressive, and with hepatic cirrhosis at various degrees, are reported. A first group of patients was treated with SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) intravenously administered for 20 days at two daily doses of 15 mg. The second group was instead-receiving, still by i.v. route, 20 mg of fructose-1-6-diphosphage sodium salt, as a drug for comparison given twice a day at the doses of 2.5 over a 20 days' period. The protidemia picture and in particular the albuminic fraction, generally altered in all the cases under study, have been rapidly and significantly restored only in the group of patients treated with SAMe this indicating the efficacy of this molecule on the liver function.