Serum ribonuclease activity in patients during parenteral nutrition, chronic hemodialysis and acute pancreatitis.

Animal experiments have shown that malnutrition and protein deficiency states, respectively are associated with elevated tissue ribonuclease (RNase, E.C. 3.1.4.22) activities. The causal intracellular alterations are unknown. Assuming that increased tissue RNase activities are reflected by serum levels, a study was made of the serum RNase activities in 10 healthy controls eating a normal diet (group I), 7 patients on long-term parenteral nutrition (group II), 13 chronic hemodialysis patients (group III), and 9 patients with acute pancreatitis (group IV). In group I the serum RNase activity corresponded to 195.3 + or -58.8 U/ml. A significant (p less than 0.005) elevation was noted in groups II (314.6 +/- 95.3 U/ml) and III (374.1 +/- 102.1 U/ml), no difference being detected in group IV (295.1 +/- 191.9 U/ml).