Brain and liver aldehyde dehydrogenase activity and voluntary ethanol consumption by rats: relations to strain, sex, and age.

Voluntary ethanol consumption and brain and liver aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity were measured in male and female rats of the Tryon Maze-Bright (S1), Tryon Maze-Dull (S3), and Wistar strains. The levels of brain ALDH measured in the different groups, corresponded well to the levels of ethanol consumption, while differences in liver ALDH corresponded well to only the strain differences in ethanol intake. Within individual groups, levels of ethanol consumption correlated better with levels of brain and liver aldehyde-oxidizing capacity. Age affected both voluntary ethanol intake and liver ALDH levels, but there were no systematic relations between the two effects. Age did not significantly affect the cerebral-aldehyde oxidizing capacity. It is argued that inherent variation in brain ALDH activity may be a principal biochemical counterpart of the differences in ethanol intake amoung different strains and sexes of laboratory rats.