Abstract
Serum γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GTP) activity was elevated in all cases of 31 patients with alcoholic hepatitis. The subjects were subdivided into two groups, with and without cirrhosis. In the group without cirrhosis (17 cases), the raised values reverted to normal within 3 weeks after abstention from alcohol, while in the other group with cirrhosis the high levels had not returned to normal for more than 6 weeks.
Histochemically, sufficient γ-GTP activity was demonstrated in both the cytoplasm of liver cells and the cell membranes adjacent to the lumen of bile canaliculi. Marked enzyme activity was observed on alcoholic hyalines and along pericellular fibers around the balloonshaped liver cells.
These results suggest that the serum y-GTP elevation results from hepatic enzyme induction and has some relation to liver cell degeneration and fiber formation in alcoholic hepatitis.
