[Experimental determination of blood-alcohol metabolism with dogs in haemorrhagic shock (author's transl)].

Ethanol at a dosage of 3 g/kg reduced body weight was injected i.v. into mongrel dogs resulting in a blood alcohol concentration of approximately 2.9 mg/ml. One hour after injection the dogs were anaesthetized with halothane-N20/02 and blood was withdrawn until the blood pressure was reduced to 40 mmHg. This usually required removal of about 30 - 40% of the total blood volume. The resulting haemorrhagic shock was ascertained by monitoring blood pH, pCO2, pO2, lactate, pyruvate and blood electrolytes. A blood specimen for enzymatic alcohol determination (ADH) was obtained every 30 min over a period of 3 hours. Compared with equally dosed controls the dogs in haemorrhagic shock showed a significant (p = 0.005) reduction of the blood alcohol decay rate (beta) which is explained by 1) the diminished blood flow through the liver and 2) the hypoxaemic metabolic situation in shock.