[Use of tear enzyme assay to predict recurrent herpetic keratitis in children]

The purpose of the study was to develop a procedure for predicting a relapse of herpetic keratitis in children, by taking into account the results of tear biochemical analysis. The tears from 47 children with herpetic keratitis were examined for the levels of total protein, the concentration of acute-phase proteins, such as orosomucoid and C-reactive protein, the activities of transferases: gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase transferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase, those of lysosomal glycosidases: alpha-mannosidase, beta-glycosidase, and beta-glucuronidase. Tear biochemical assay made it possible to evaluate the efficiency of treatment and to develop a procedure for predicting a recurrence of herpetic keratitis in children. Determination of the tear activity of the glycosidases may be used to predict recurrent herpetic keratitis in children.