title: Rates of ethanol metabolism decrease in sons of alcoholics following a priming dose of ethanol.
abstract: Rapid changes in rates of ethanol metabolism in response to acute ethanol administration have been observed in animals and humans. To examine whether this phenomenon might vary by risk for alcoholism, 23 young men with a positive family history of alcoholism (family history positive [FHP]) were compared to 15 young men without a family history of alcoholism (family history negative [FHN]). Rates of ethanol metabolism were measured in all subjects first after an initial ethanol dose (0.85 g/kg) and then, several hours later, a second dose (0.3 g/kg), and the two rates were compared. The two groups of subjects were similar in their histories of ethanol consumption. FHP subjects demonstrated faster initial rates of ethanol metabolism, 148+/-36 mg/kg/h, compared to FHN subjects, 124+/-18 mg/kg/h, P=.01. However, FHN subjects increased their rate of metabolism by 10+/-27% compared to a decrease of -15+/-24% in FHP subjects, P=.007. Fifty-two percent of the FHP and none of the FHN subjects exhibited a decline in metabolic rate of 20% or more, P=.0008. Since a significant proportion of FHP subjects exhibited a decrease in the second rate of ethanol metabolism, these preliminary data might help to partly explain why FHP individuals differ in their sensitivity to ethanol and are more likely to develop alcohol dependence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina, 3207 Michael Hooker Research Center, CB #7431, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7431, USA. bubradfo@email.unc.edu
authors.forename: Blair U
authors.initials: BU
authors.lastname: Bradford
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karnitsching
authors.forename: Linda L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Garbutt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019540:Area Under Curve; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol