Alcohol metabolism in Asian-American men with genetic polymorphisms of aldehyde dehydrogenase
TL Wall, CM Peterson, KP Peterson… - Annals of internal …, 1997 - acpjournals.org
TL Wall, CM Peterson, KP Peterson, ML Johnson, HR Thomasson, M Cole, CL Ehlers
Annals of internal medicine, 1997•acpjournals.orgBackground: About half of certain Asians have a deficiency of the low-Km aldehyde
dehydrogenase (ALDH2) isoenzyme. This deficiency results from inheritance of mutant
ALDH2* 2 allele. Objective: To determine whether Asian Americans with ALDH2* 2 alleles
differ from Asian Americans without this mutation in terms of blood levels of alcohol and
acetaldehyde after ingestion of a moderate amount of alcohol. Design: Double-blind,
crossover study. Setting: Private research institute. Participants: 35 healthy Asian-American …
dehydrogenase (ALDH2) isoenzyme. This deficiency results from inheritance of mutant
ALDH2* 2 allele. Objective: To determine whether Asian Americans with ALDH2* 2 alleles
differ from Asian Americans without this mutation in terms of blood levels of alcohol and
acetaldehyde after ingestion of a moderate amount of alcohol. Design: Double-blind,
crossover study. Setting: Private research institute. Participants: 35 healthy Asian-American …
Background
About half of certain Asians have a deficiency of the low-Km aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) isoenzyme. This deficiency results from inheritance of mutant ALDH2*2 allele.
Objective
To determine whether Asian Americans with ALDH2*2 alleles differ from Asian Americans without this mutation in terms of blood levels of alcohol and acetaldehyde after ingestion of a moderate amount of alcohol.
Design
Double-blind, crossover study.
Setting
Private research institute.
Participants
35 healthy Asian-American men. Three men who became ill after alcohol ingestion and one who had outlying data were excluded.
Intervention
Alcoholic beverage, containing 0.56 g of alcohol per kg of body weight, or placebo beverage, containing 3 mL of alcohol, given orally on separate occasions.
Measurements
Blood levels of alcohol and acetaldehyde measured before and several times after ingestion of the alcoholic or placebo beverage.
Results
Participants with ALDH2*2 alleles had significantly higher blood acetaldehyde levels after ingesting alcoholic and placebo beverages than did participants with ALDH2*1 alleles, despite similar blood alcohol concentrations.
Conclusions
Blood acetaldehyde levels rather than blood alcohol concentration may mediate enhanced alcohol sensitivity among Asians with ALDH2*2 alleles.
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