Serum Aspartic Acid ‎as a Marker of Epilepsy

OBJECTIVE: Determine the ‎diagnostic validity of serum aspartic acid as a predictor of epilepsy.

STUDY DESIGN & METHODOLOGY: This study enrolled 80 epileptic patients and 80 healthy people, and we measure serum level of ‎aspartic acid by using high liquid performance chromatography.

RESULTS: Mean serum aspartic acid ‎was significantly higher in patients (26.2 ± 10.1) mg\dl while in control was (2.8 ± 1.36) mg\dl, ‎the result showed that aspartic acid is an excellent predictor area under the curve [AUC] (95%CI) = ‎‎0.988 (0.97 – 1.0) with 96.3% sensitivity and 97.5% specificity for epileptic patients. Also, the ‎result shows generalized seizure has significantly higher mean serum aspartic acid compared to ‎partial type and GTC show significantly higher mean serum aspartic acid compared to ‎myoclonus.

CONCLUSION: Aspartic acid serum level markedly elevated in epileptic patients ‎groups in comparison to the healthy group, also shows a marked difference between generalized ‎and partial epilepsy and show different levels between subtypes of epilepsy.‎