Assessment of serum arginase activity in patients with schistosomal hepatic fibrosis

Arginase enzyme [ARG], one of the urea cycle enzymes found even exclusively in the liver, was estimated by a new technique in the serum of 50 patients with hepatic diseases in order to find a more specific parameter of the liver functions than the currently used ones. Those patients include patients with intestinal schistosomiasis, schistosomal hepatic fibrosis with or without ascites, hepatic coma, and infective viral hepatitis. SARG changes paralleled the serum transaminases changes in the different hepatic diseases, but it is more specific to the liver, while serum transaminases are affected in other organ lesions, e.g. in heart and muscle disease. So, SARG is more valuable for the evaluation of the parenchymal hepatic damage