Clinical usefulness of malate dehydrogenase and its mitochondrial isoenzyme in comparison with aspartate aminotransferase and its mitochondrial isoenzyme in sera of patients with liver disease.

The activities of serum malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and its mitochondrial isoenzyme (MDHm) were studied in sera of patients with liver disease. They proved to be more useful than those of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and its mitochondrial isoenzyme for detection of hepatocellular carcinoma and acute circulatory failure, and for estimation of the severity of acute hepatitis. The N/T value measuring system, which is adaptable for autoanalysis and allows simultaneous determination of activities depending on NAD and thionicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (thio-NAD), yields both the total activity of MDH and the N/T value which was correlated significantly with MDHm/MDH (r = 0.748). Assay of MDH and its mitochondrial isoenzyme in association with the N/T value measuring system seems to be more useful and less time consuming for estimation of the severity of liver diseases than that of AST and its mitochondrial isoenzyme.