The usefulness of blood enzyme determinations as markers of liver necrosis was 
tested in 100 alcoholics who underwent biopsy during clinical investigation. 
Mean values of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), serum aspartate and alanine 
transferase (SGOT and SGPT), ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OCT), and 
gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (gamma-GTP) tended to rise with increasing liver 
cell necrosis, though values of SGOT, SGPT, OCT, and gamma-GTP showed 
considerable overlap between the 32 patients with histologically proved 
hepatitis and the 68 without. By contrast, GDH values showed virtually no 
overlap between patients with and without hepatitis, and a value of two and a 
half times the normal value discriminated between the two groups. Because of its 
easy determination and its reliable reflection of liver cell necrosis the GDH 
concentration should be estimated routinely in alcoholic patients.