Serum alanine aminotransferase to aspartate aminotransferase ratio and degree of fatty liver in morbidly obese patients.

We evaluated the change in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT; EC 2.6.1.2) to serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST; EC 2.6.1.; ALT/AST) ratio with the degree of fatty liver in morbidly obese patients. A total of 31 patients were included in the study. Fatty liver was graded as 0 to 4+. The mean and SD of AST and ALT were not significantly different between groups of patients with various grades of fatty liver. There was, however, a significant correlation between the ALT/AST ratio and the degree of fatty infiltration of the liver. This, we believe, implies damage mainly to the plasma membrane allowing loss of cytoplasmic enzymes rather than loss of mitochondrial enzymes.