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Serum Amino Acids, Liver Status, and Antiepileptic Drug Therapy in Epilepsy
Author(s) -
Rao Marie Luise,
Stefan Hermann,
Scheid Christof,
Kuttler Anja D. S.,
Froscher Walter
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
epilepsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.687
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1528-1167
pISSN - 0013-9580
DOI - 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1993.tb02420.x
Subject(s) - epilepsy , valine , medicine , leucine , endocrinology , valproic acid , phenylalanine , isoleucine , liver function , liver function tests , taurine , glutamine , methionine , amino acid , biology , biochemistry , psychiatry
Summary: Serum amino acid (AA) profiles are altered in epilepsy. It is not clear whether this is due to the disease process itself or to other variables such as seizure type, seizure frequency, duration of illness, medication, or altered liver function. We investigated serum AA profiles and liver enzymes in 73 epileptic patients and 90 healthy subjects and evaluated the data by analysis of variance to discriminate between age, sex, seizure type, duration of illness, seizure frequency, antiepileptic drug (AED) and increased serum liver enzyme levels, and their putative interaction with the serum A A profile. There was no correlation between the changes in the AA profile and age, duration of illness, seizure frequency, and seizure type. Seventy‐two percent of the AED‐treated patients and 33% of the unmedicated patients showed an increase in one or several serum liver enzymes [alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and/or γ‐glutamyl transferase (γ‐GT)]; particularly γg‐GT. We observed a significant increase in serum concentrations of glutamine and glycine and decreased levels of taurine, threonine, serine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, histidine, tryptophan, and arginine in AED‐treated patients but not in unmedicated patients. These results show that the changes in the serum AA profiles of epileptic patients treated with AEDs occur in patients with alteration of serum liver enzymes; whether this implies a causal relation is still uncertain.