Very important data here. Thank you. Just for a fun FYI. As doctors we can lean towards the etiology of liver disease by studying the ratios of ALT to AST. From liver disease caused by alcohol the AST is usually twice the increase of ALT.
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Interesting, so the ratio of AST/ALT changes for different liver diseases? Is there a wide range of possible ratios dependent on the source of liver damage?
Yeah! Ethanol produces more reactive oxygen species (ROS), which preferentially targets mitochondrial cells. Since AST is a mitochondrial enzyme, when those cells lyse, much more AST is released in the peripheral circulation.