AST Blood Test (Aspartate Aminotransferase, SGOT)

This test measures the activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in your blood serum. Quest notes that AST is widely distributed, with significant amounts in the heart and liver and smaller amounts in skeletal muscle, kidneys, pancreas, spleen, lungs and brain; injury to these tissues releases AST into the circulation.

People re-checking an AST that came back high; people following AST alongside ALT as their clinician advised; and people with a higher risk of liver problems, such as a family history of liver disease, heavy alcohol use, obesity, diabetes, liver-affecting medicines, or hepatitis or exposure to it. If you have symptoms of liver disease, a full liver panel is usually the better starting point.

Any time of day; no fasting is needed. Because strenuous exercise and muscle injury can raise AST, test under your normal routine rather than in the day or two after an unusually hard workout, and use the interval your clinician suggests for a re-check.

A result within the lab's reference range is reassuring for this marker; a low AST is usually considered normal. A high AST can reflect liver conditions such as hepatitis, cirrhosis or liver injury from alcohol or medicines, but also non-liver causes: recent intense exercise or muscle injury, heart problems or procedures, pancreatitis, mononucleosis, iron overload (hemochromatosis), seizures, burns or surgery. Comparing AST with ALT, and repeating a mildly high value, are the usual next steps; a clinician decides whether more testing is needed. Ranges vary by age and sex. JustLabs results are informational; review them with a clinician.