Does consumption of alcohol in the presence of disulfiram cause brain damage?
After blocking aldehyde dehydrogenase activity with disulfiram in rats, a single injection of ethanol or a single day of inhaling ethanol vapor resulted in neuronal degeneration in the cerebral cortex and elsewhere that was detected by a specific silver stain and by electron microscopy. Treatment of rats with alcohol alone and with disulfiram alone did not cause neuronal degeneration. The minimum blood alcohol levels and disulfiram doses administered to the rats which caused neural degeneration are not distant from those values described in a clinical case of abuse of disulfiram.
D000079:Acetaldehyde / Q000097:blood; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000818:Animals; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology; D004221:Disulfiram / Q000633:toxicity*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D000431:Ethanol; D000079:Acetaldehyde; D004221:Disulfiram