Summary
Activities of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), glutamine synthetase (GS), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (αKGDH) were measured in autopsied brain tissue from nine cirrhotic patients dying in hepatic coma and an equal number of appropriately-matched control patients who were free from hepatic, neurological or psychiatric diseases in all cases. Activities of GAD were unchanged in cirrhotic brain tissue suggesting no loss of integrity of presynaptic GABA nerve terminals in this disease. Similarly, activities of the mitochondrial enzyme αKGDH were within normal limits in brain tissue from cirrhotic patients. On the other hand GS and GDH activities were selectively decreased by 20–30% in caudate nuclei of these patients. Previous immunocytochemical studies suggest that both GS and GDH are enriched in astrocytes. Thus, loss of these enzymes is consistent with the marked Alzheimer type II astrocytosis characteristic of hepatic encephalopathy resulting from chronic liver disease and shown to be particularly severe in caudate nucleus. Selective loss of glial GDH activity in these brains could result in abnormalities of glutamatergic function in this disease.
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Giguère, JF., Besnard, AM., Lavoie, J., Layrargues, G.P., Butterworth, R.F. (1989). Activities of Giutamate-Related Enzymes in Autopsied Brain Tissue from Cirrhotic Patients with Hepatic Encephalopathy. In: Butterworth, R.F., Layrargues, G.P. (eds) Hepatic Encephalopathy. Experimental Biology and Medicine, vol 22. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4506-3_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4506-3_30
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