Serum enzyme alterations in arginine-deficient, influenza-infected ferrets: a potential animal model of Reye's syndrome.

Young male ferrets developed hyperammonemia and encephalopathy soon after eating a diet lacking arginine. Because of this characteristic and their known susceptibility to influenza infections, they were further tested as an animal model for Reye's syndrome (RS), a childhood disorder which sometimes develops following influenza and which is characterized in part by encephalopathy, hyperammonemia, and elevated serum transaminase levels. Either the deficiency or infection alone resulted in minor elevations of serum ornithine carbamyl transferase (S-OCT) activities and together resulted in substantial elevations. These and associated alterations are discussed in relationship to the metabolic disorders occurring in RS.