Hepatotoxicity of acetaldehyde in rats.
The ability of acetaldehyde to initiate hepatotoxicity as evidenced by enzyme leakage, hepatic fat accumulation and histological alterations was studied in rats. Neither oral nor intraperitoneal treatment with acetaldehyde had any hepatotoxic effect, even following aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibition by disulfiram. This is probably due to the inability of exogenously added acetaldehyde to penetrate liver cell membranes. In contrast, acetaldehyde derived metabolically from ethanol was capable of inducing moderate hepatotoxicity when it accumulated upon pretreatment with disulfiram. Acetaldehyde may thus be partly responsible for alcohol-induced liver damage.
Strubelt
O
O
Institute of Toxicology, Medical University of Lübeck, F.R.G.
Younes
M
M
Urch
T
T
Breining
H
H
Pentz
R
R
D000079:Acetaldehyde / Q000633:toxicity*; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000818:Animals; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D007064:L-Iditol 2-Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012016:Reference Values
D007064:L-Iditol 2-Dehydrogenase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D000079:Acetaldehyde