What is the Meaning & Definition of transaminases

Transaminases, also known as Aminotransferases, are liver-specific though not exclusive of this body enzymes because other tissues are found in many cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle, kidney and red blood cells inside. They have the function transfer an amino acid amino group to a Keto acid, there its name.
The importance of transaminases lies in the determination of their value in the blood is indicative of the functioning of the liver, allowing to identify whether it exists or not liver damage.
Main transaminases are the SGOT (glutamate-oxalacetate transaminase), also known as AST (aspartate aminotransferase) and SGPT (glutamate-pyruvate transaminase) also called ALT (alanine aminotransferase).

Determination and normal values

Transaminases are studied in a sample of blood for Biochemistry which is taken in a dry tube or with red without anticoagulant cover since his measurement is carried out in the blood serum.
Normal values of transaminases are from 7 to 40 for the SGPT and 10 to 40 for the SGOT.

Causes of elevation of transaminases

Any involvement of the liver is usually able to raise levels of transaminase in blood, but the magnitude of elevation will depend on the degree of liver injury.
Mild elevations occur in disorders such as fatty liver, the secondary inflammation of the liver, viral infections and liver involvement by the use of drugs, alcoholic hepatitis, metastasis of tumors, metabolic diseases, muscle disease, or gallstones with bile drainage known as common bile duct obstruction.
Severe elevations are characteristic of hepatitis, especially viral hepatitis viruses A, B viruses, Virus C, Epstein-Barr and Cytomegalovirus, in these cases the values of these enzymes exceed up to 100 times their normal value.

Indicators to analyse

Prevalence of the SGPT elevations are indicative of liver disorders, infectious, metabolic, or tumor. For its part the elevation of transaminases at the expense of the SGOT are characteristic of liver diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis related to alcohol consumption and may also occur in people with cardiac infarcts in the first hours of its evolution.
Your being able to get back to their normal values decrease occurs when the illness that gave rise to the increase of these values is controlled or cured. Regular determination of transaminases allows you to keep track of the evolution of these diseases and establish the prognosis of disease produced by its elevation.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.