[What we drink when we drink? The role of the acetaldehyde in the alcohol consumption].
Although ethyl alcohol (ethanol) is the most widely consumed drug in the Western society, ethanol mechanisms of action in the Central Nervous System (CNS) remain unknown. In consequence, the development of pharmacological strategies to treat excessive alcohol consumption and alcoholism has proven to be difficult. A major difficulty in those attempts arises from the molecular properties of ethanol, which do not allow a sterocomplementary binding to any known receptor. Therefore, over the last years, it has been proposed that a large number of effects observed alter ethanol administration/consumption might be actually mediated by its first metabolite, namely acetaldehyde, produced inside the CNS via catalase activity. Nowadays, a large number of evidences support this proposal, leading the possibility of new pharmacological strategies (i.e. pharmacological inactivation of acetaldehyde) in the management of alcohol excessive consumption.
Carles
C
Sanchis
Carlos M G
CM
Aragón
D000079:Acetaldehyde / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages; D000431:Ethanol / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans
D000431:Ethanol; D000079:Acetaldehyde