Myopathy biomarkers

Whereas CK and LD isozymes have been quite successful as cardiac biomarkers in humans, their use in animals has been limited by the need to exclude muscle injury (O Brien et al. 1997a). This is clearly more difficult in animals because symptoms of myopathy are more difficult to detect and because of a greater background incidence of effects on skeletal muscle associated with handling and stress. The mildly greater concentration of specific isoenzymes in cardiac versus skeletal muscle that confers diagnostic relevance may be offset by the much larger amount of muscle mass. 

LDH and CK arc commonly used as enzymatic biomarkers for a variety of diseases, poisonings, and myopathies. Their values are generally enhanced in serum, probably as a result of increased cell membrane permeability. 

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