Hepatic succinic dehydrogenase in marasmic Egyptian infants

In a group of 15 marasmic infants, the activity of the liver enzyme "succinic dehydrogenase" (SDH) was studied. This was compared with the activity of that enzyme in the livers of 10 normal infants, taken as controls. Histologic changes were found in only one third of the marasmic cases studied while abnormal liver functions were noted in two thirds of them and diminished SDH activity in all of them. The presence of diminished activity of SDH in 100% of the cases may explain the discrepancy between the occurrence of histologic hepatic changes in about 33% only and the occurrence of disturbed liver functions in about 66% of the cases.