[Lacrimal and salivary antioxidants in viral infection].

The activities of antioxidant enzymes in the cornea and tears in patients with ophthalmic herpes and in the saliva in those with herpetic stomatitis were assessed. Impaired inhibition of hydroxy radical and a drop of antioxidant enzymes activities and of the level of ascorbic acid in herpes-infected cornea and tears are factors in the pathogenesis of ophthalmic herpes. Measurements of enzymatic activities in the tears and saliva in herpetic infection are a valuable diagnostic test and a criterion of treatment efficacy.

[Enzymatic analysis of lacrimal fluid in viral keratitis].

Activities of four antioxidative enzymes (superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, catalase, and peroxidase) and of three transferases (serum glutamic oxaloacetic and pyruvic transaminases, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase) were measured in the lacrimal fluid of patients with herpetic keratitis. Measurements of lacrimal enzymes in the course of the disease helps assess the efficacy of treatment and permits its correction. After the treatment of herpetic keratitis is over, activities of the lacrimal enzymes should be assessed together with clinical signs, this permitting a prediction of a recurrence of ophthalmic herpes and timely administration of anti-relapse treatment.

[The effect of the method of collecting lacrimal fluid on its composition].

The authors have examined the relationship between the technique of the tear collection and the lacrimal enzymes activity. The studies have revealed that lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) appears in the tears of normal subjects only if the tears are collected by mechanically affecting the cornea and the conjunctiva. Microinjuries of the corneal epithelium result in LDH release into the tears.