title: Relationship between blood catalase activity and drinking history in a human population, a possible biological marker of the affinity to consume alcohol.
abstract: The relationship between blood catalase activity and alcohol consumption was investigated in a group of Caucasian volunteers (N = 191). Subjects individually attended a 1-hr session, during which they were asked to complete the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) and MacAndrew Scale (MAC), supply information on alcohol consumption (averaged over the most recent and typical 30-day periods: Recent and Typical Q-values) and other drug use by answering the Concordia Alcohol Screening Questionnaire (CASQ), and provide a 100-microliter blood sample from the fingertip. Results showed a significant positive relationship between typical Q-Value and catalase activity (r = 0.43, P less than 0.001), which improved after eliminating multiple drug users from the analysis (r = 0.65, P less than 0.001). Multiple regression analyses showed that catalase activity combined with being male, using cocaine or crack, scoring highly on the MAC scale and having alcohol-related problems (MAST), explained a significant portion of the variance in Typical Q-Value. These results support the notion that catalase activity is a strong positive determinant of alcohol intake and support the hypothesis that the enzyme catalase plays a role in regulating voluntary ethanol consumption.
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: U M
authors.initials: UM
authors.lastname: Koechling
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Amit
mesh_terms: D000079:Acetaldehyde / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000235:genetics*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D015415:Biomarkers; D002374:Catalase / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D002374:Catalase; D000079:Acetaldehyde