[Measurement of serum catalase activity and its clinical significance]

Catalase (CAT) is an enzyme to scavenge H2O2 and to protect peroxidation of cell wall lipid and lipoproteins. The increase in its activity has been observed in several diseases as an compensating reaction. The decrease in its activity may be related to some pathophysiologies of diseases. However, there has been few reports on the measurement of serum CAT activity. We formerly reported the method to measure CAT accurately with an automated analyzer. In the present experiment, we measured CAT in various kinds of diseases and healthy controls by this method. By an analysis of serum samples which were obtained from randomly selected 1,051 patients at Chibune Hospital for 12 months (from January to December, 1993), we obtained following results. The CAT of neuromuscular, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases were significantly high (p < 0.01). The CAT of psychiatric and otorhinopharyngologic diseases were significantly low (p < 0.01). There was significant relationship between CAT and some biochemical markers. CAT is thought as a protector against tissue injuries or circulatory insufficiencies. These results indicate that CAT increases in some kinds of diseases as a protection reaction to the injury, and that the decrease of CAT may cause some kinds of diseases.