ENZYME STUDIES AND NEONATAL BRAIN DAMAGE

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Abstract
A double-blind study of 57 full-term newborn infants prospectively subjected to clinical, EEG, blood and CSF, and developmental examinations is reported. Four enzymatic activities were measured in blood and CSF: aminotransferase (ASAT), creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LD) and hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (HBD). Close relationships of enzymatic levels with psychomotor outcome are reported. In blood ASAT and CK seemed to be the most important determinations, allowing threshold values to be suggested. In CSF, LD and HBD were the determinations most closely related to psychomotor events at age 1 yr. This method seems to be of theoretical and practical importance in evaluating neonatal brain injury.