A QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF ENZYME LEVELS IN THE FLUIDS OF STERILE AND FERTILE ECHINOCOCCUS GRANULOSUSCYSTS IN SHEEP

Hydatodosis is one of the most important parasitic diseases that has a global distribution and seems more prevalent in some Asian and European countries. Until now, our knowledge of the parasite's biology and metabolism and host-parasite relationships has remained scanty. The main purpose of this study was a comparison between levels of lactate de-hydrogenase (LDH), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alanine amino transferase (ALT) in fertile and sterile hydatid fluids.Liver and lung tissues of infected sheep were gathered and enzyme concentrations in each cyst plus its fertility status and location (liver or lung) were determined by an auto-analyzing method.Results showed a significant difference between enzyme levels in fertile and sterile hydatid cysts. There seems to be an equilibrium between hydatid fluid and serum concentrations of hepatic transaminases, while for LDH and ALP the relationship takes the form of an active interchange.ALP is one of the most important enzymes in parasite metabolism and it is considered as an immunogenic protein in host serum.