[The development of transaminase activity (SGOT and SGPT), lactate dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase in the blood plasma of calves up to the age of 4 months].

A trial was performed in 204 healthy calves (heifers) of the Bohemian Spotted breed in the post-natal period from birth to the age of four months. The activities of the following enzymes in blood plasma were determined: L-aspartate: 2-oxoglutarate: aminotransferase, EC.2.6.1.1. (GOT), L-alanine: oxoglutarate: aminotransferase, EC.2.6.1.2. (GPT), L-lactate: NAD oxidoreductase, EC.1.1.1.27 (LDH), and orthophosphoric acid monoester phosphohydrolase, EC.3.1.3.1. (alkaline phosphatase). The calves were divided into age categories according to the date of birth with an interval of one week. GOT activity in blood plasma increased significantly until the age of eight weeks (from the original value of 1.1708 +/- 0.2598 micronmol ml-1 to 1.8150 +/- 0.6362 micronmol ml-1, with the maximum of 2.0317 +/- 0.7777 micronmol ml-1 of plasma in the sixth week). In the subsequent period the GOT curve has not a characteristic course. While the activity of GOT increased in the first weeks after birth, the activity of GPT showed a significant drop (from the original level of 0.9000 +/- 0.3364 micronmol ml-1 to the minimum of 0.3675 +/- 0.1901 micronmol ml-1 of plasma in the seventh week); from the 10th week on the values rise so that at the end of the period of study they reach almost the same levels as in calves in the first postnatal week. The activity of LDH in blood plasma remains at almost the same level in the first five weeks after birth (between 43.4025 +/- 8.4893 micronmol ml-1 and 46.3792 +/- 14.8952 micronmol ml-1 of plasma); it was at a statistically significantly higher level only in a short period between the 7th and 10th week after birth. The highest values of alkaline phosphatase in blood plasma were recorded at the age of two or three weeks (maximum in the second week 23.9833 +/- 9.0945 micronmol ml-1 of plasma); from the fourth week on, the values of alkaline phosphatase are significantly lower until the end of the test period, ranging betweek 5.3133 +/- 1.6017 micronmol ml-1 and 7.5425 +/- 2.2437 micronmol ml-1 of plasma. Changes conditioned by postnatal development were observed in the development of all the enzymatic activities under study, the greatest changes being observed in alkaline phosphatase.