AST, a liver and muscle enzyme AST (SGOT)
An enzyme found in your liver but also in your muscles and heart.
Also printed asAspartate Aminotransferase · AST · SGOT · GOT · Aspartate Transaminase
What it measures
An enzyme found in liver, heart and skeletal muscle, so it rises with any of them.
Read against ALT it separates a liver problem from a muscle one, and flags the alcohol pattern.
Why it matters for how long you stay well
On its own it says little. Read beside ALT it tells you whether the liver is being irritated by fat or by alcohol, and that answer shapes the next twenty years.
How it shows up in daily life
A hard gym session or a long walk in the days before the test can lift this with a perfectly healthy liver.
High and low readings
When it reads high
Liver or muscle stress; a hard gym session pushes it up for days.
When it reads low
Low is fine.
What moves it
Daily life
- alcohol
- hard or unfamiliar exercise in the days before the test
- weight around your middle
- some supplements
Medicines known to shift it
- statins (can raise it)
- NSAIDs (can raise it)
- antibiotics (can raise it)
Listed so a result can be read in context. It is not advice to start, stop or change any medicine; that decision belongs with your physician.
Read it with
Markers that move this one, or that this one moves. One number read alone can mislead.
- AST to ALT patternKnown mechanism
As this rises, AST to ALT pattern is calculated from it
This pattern divides one liver enzyme by the other. Worked out from two normal enzymes it is noise; it only speaks when one of them is genuinely raised.
- ALT, the liver-specific enzymeKnown mechanism
ALT moves with it
Both enzymes leak from the same irritated liver cells, so they usually rise together. What points at the cause is the ratio between them, not either number alone.
Common questions
What does AST (SGOT) measure?
An enzyme found in liver, heart and skeletal muscle, so it rises with any of them. Read against ALT it separates a liver problem from a muscle one, and flags the alcohol pattern.
What does a high AST result usually mean?
Liver or muscle stress; a hard gym session pushes it up for days.
What does a low AST result usually mean?
Low is fine.
What is the usual reference range for AST?
A broad adult reference band is 8–40 U/L. For women the band is 8–33 U/L. Labs differ, so read your result against the band printed on your own report.
Educational only, not a diagnosis. A single number means little without your history and the rest of your panel, so discuss your own results with your physician.
Typical adult reference band
- Men
- 8–40 U/L
- Women
- 8–33 U/L
Labs differ. The band printed on your own report is the one that applies to your result.
Reported in U/L
Ageing relevance
3/5
A moderate ageing association; used in clinical longevity panels.
Worth knowing
It sits in heart and skeletal muscle as well as liver, so heavy exercise can raise it without the liver being involved.
Have a report with this marker on it? Read it in context.
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