Serum and Salivary AST & ALT Levels Comparison: hepatic diseases

Introduction: Diseases of the Liver and Biliary system like acute & chronic parenchymal liver diseases, liver abscess, cirrhosis, tumors, and metabolic diseases occur worldwide. Serum AST & ALT levels are being assessed for liver functioning however. hazards of cross infection necessitates alternative to blood as assessment medium. Saliva provides a cost effective approach for the screening of large populations. The aim the present study was to estimate and correlate the levels of AST, ALT in the saliva and sera of patients suffering from liver diseases with the prospective that saliva may eliminate the serum analysis for initial screening of liver diseases.Methods:Serum & Salivary samples of 50 diagnosed patients of hepatic damage, attending Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, and control group comprising of 50 healthy subjects from hospital staff with age range 16-65 years were analyzed for AST & ALT levels using bichromatic (340,700) rate technique. Patients with hemolytic diseases, muscle dystrophy, pulmonary embolism, acute pancreatitis, periodontitis and immuno-compromised patients were excluded from the study. Results:Mean Serum & Salivary levels of AST & ALT levels were higher in patients with liver damage than in control groups. Moreover it was found that there was no significant difference between serum ALT and salivary ALT levels in controls (p=0.156>0.05). Coefficient of determination r2=to 0.853. It was also found that there was no significant difference in serum AST and salivary AST levels in the controls (p = 0.318 >0.05). Coefficient of determination r2=to 0.823.Conclusion: Salivary AST & ALT levels can be used for initial screening and monitoring with same level of confidence as serum AST & ALT