Effect of Cyanide, Fluoride, and Magnesium on Serum Phosphatase Activity during Hepatic Damage

Alkaline phosphatase, normally present in the serum, is known to be raised above normal in various types of liver damage (l-5). Although the effects of various inhibitors, such as cyanide and fluoride, have been studied on phosphatases extracted from tissue ((6-S) and others), no observations have been made on the effect of such ions on serum phosphahase activity during hepatic damage. In this paper the effect of cyanide, fluoride, and magnesium ions, alone and in various combinations, was studied to ascertain their effect on the serum phosphatase activity of normal dogs and dogs with hepatic damage. It was found that the increase in serum phosphatase obtained during liver damage was due to a phosphatase that was normally present in the blood in only small amounts.