Serum Enzymes in Muscular Dystrophy and Certain Other Muscular and Neuromuscular Diseases

THE enzyme glutamic oxalacetic transaminase is widely distributed in animal tissues and is found in greatest concentration in cardiac and skeletal muscle.1 In the normal animal this enzyme is almost exclusively confined within the body cells, and only a very small amount is present in the circulation. Destruction of tissue will apparently liberate some of the contained enzyme, which will appear in the serum. A transitory increase in the level of this enzyme is the basis for a reliable laboratory determination of acute myocardial injury.2 , 3 Necrosis of some other tissues, especially the liver, also may produce an increase in the . . .