Breath and blood acetaldehyde concentrations and their correlation during normal and calcium carbimide-modified ethanol oxidation in man.
With the use of new and improved analytical techniques, concentrations of acetaldehyde in antecubital venous blood and breath of human volunteers were measured after (a) pretreatment of subjects with ethanol and the aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitor, calcium carbimide and (b) treatment with ethanol only. Breath acetaldehyde concentrations were converted to equivalent pulmonary blood concentrations using an experimentally determined blood: breath partition ratio for acetaldehyde of 190. Under all experimental conditions, blood acetaldehyde concentrations calculated from breath analysis were seen to closely reflect those measured by direct blood analysis. Treatment of subjects with calcium carbimide resulted in elevated blood and breath acetaldehyde concentrations which were rapidly lowered by the intravenous infusion of 4-methyl pyrazole. Peak blood acetaldehyde concentrations ranged from 25 to 188 muM after calcium carbimide and ethanol treatment, but were only 6-11 muM after ethanol treatment alone (1.2g/kg).
Research Laboratories of the State Alcohol Monopoly (Alko), and Division of Gastroenterology, Second Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
A R
AR
Stowell
K O
KO
Lindros
M P
MP
Salaspuro
D000079:Acetaldehyde / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D001944:Breath Tests / Q000379:methods; D003484:Cyanamide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction
D000431:Ethanol; D003484:Cyanamide; D000079:Acetaldehyde