Elevated blood acetaldehyde in alcoholics with accelerated ethanol elimination.

Alcoholics and controls given ethanol (1.2 g/kg body weight) were analyzed for blood and breath acetaldehyde using the more sensitive and reliable semicarbazide method. The acetaldehyde levels in controls were almost undetectable (less than 2 microM), but were found to be elevated (10--10 microM) in 6 of 8 alcoholics. Breath acetaldehyde and blood acetaldehyde co-fluctuated during the experiments. Fructose infusion transiently increased blood acetaldehyde, but only in 4 of the alcoholics. The apparent discrepancy between our finding and the simultaneously reported low acetaldehyde level in alcoholics (Eriksson and Peachy, this volume) may be explained by the different status of the alcoholics tested. Our alcoholics were tested on the day after hospital admission and eliminated ethanol 5% faster than controls. It is suggested that elevated blood acetaldehyde occurs regularly after interrupted drinking in heavy alcohol abusers with fast ethanol elimination, possibly combined with reduced liver aldehyde dehydrogenase activity, but that the phenomenon may rapidly disappear upon abstinence and hospital treatment, which reduces disturbances in hepatic functions and the ethanol elimination rate.