Veterinary Clinical Medicine-I (General and Systemic)

Alanine aminotransferase

ALANINE AMINOTRANSFERASE (ALT)

• ALT is accepted as being essentially liver specific in the dog. Peak serum activity is proportional to the number of hepatocytes affected, but gives no indication as to whether the disease is diffuse or focal, and does not reflect the severity of the disease or its reversibility.
• The reported plasma half life is of the order of two-and-a-half days, implying that, after serum peak levels, a halving every 2 to 3 days is a good prognostic indicator.