TOTAL PANCREATIC AND SALIVARY SERUM ISOAMYLASE ACTIVITIES IN ALCOHOL MISUSERS IN RELAPSE AND REMISSION AND IN ALCOHOLIC LIVER-DISEASE

By means of immunoinhibition by specific salivary monoclonal antibodie s in combination with a chromogenic substrate, assays of serum amylase were performed in control subjects, in chronic alcohol misusers in re lapse or remission and in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD). There was a selective increase in the salivary isoenzyme in the ALD g roup. There were no significant changes in either of the alcohol misus ing groups, compared with control subjects. It is suggested that the i ncrease in salivary iso-amylase observed in patients with ALD is relat ed to the previously reported functional and histological abnormalitie s in the parotid glands of this group of patients. It is also suggeste d that assay of pancreatic iso-amylase may be more discriminatory than total amylase levels in detecting pancreatic disease in with alcoholi c cirrhosis.