Alkaline Phosphatase in Normal and Diseased Human Muscle

Abstract

The activity of alkaline phosphatase in skeletal muscle from normal persons and from patients with various myopathies and neuropathies was determined by a quantitative technique. Increased enzyme activity was found only in the severely abnormal muscles in patients affected with diseases of various etiologic origin. The results of this study confirm the original reported histo-chemical findings about this enzyme and suggest that the increased activity of alkaline phosphatase in diseased muscles is secondary to the pathologic changes. It may also be involved in some fashion in the process of muscle destruction.