Detection of renal brush border membrane enzymes for evaluation of renal injury in neonatal scleredema

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate renal brush border membrane enzymes in urine as an indicator for renal injury in neonatal scleredema (NS). METHODS: Sixty nine NS patients in our hospital were enrolled and divided into mild group and moderate/severe group. Patients were further randomly divided into therapy and control subgroups for 7 days ligustrazine administration. Urine samples were collected to detect renal brush border membrane enzymes (RBBME) by ELISA and β2-microglobulin (β(2)-MG) by radioimmunoassay (RIA). The results were compared with those of 30 normal neonates. Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS13.0 software. RESULTS: Both RBBME and β(2)-MG were found to be higher in urine in NS patients than normal controls (P < 0.01). Level of RBBME increased with the severity of NS (P <0.05), while urinary β(2)-MG did not (P >0.05). After being treated with ligustrazine, a medicine for renal function recovery, both RBBME and β(2)-MG were similarly significantly decreased comparing to untreated groups (P < 0.05). 79.7% of NS patients showed abnormal RBBME while only 52.2% had an abnormal urinary β(2)-MG (χ(2)=11.65，P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: RBBME was more sensitive than β(2)-MG in reflecting the renal injury in NS. Examination of RBBME effectively reflected the recovery of renal injury after treatment with ligustrazine.