EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON THE EEG IN ASIAN MEN WITH GENETIC VARIATIONS OFALDH2

Approximately 50% of Asians experience a facial flush following alcoho l ingestion. These individuals have an inactive form of mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) encoded by the ALDH22 allele. This stud y matched 15 flushing and 15 nonflushing Asian men on demographics and drinking histories. The 30 subjects were genotyped for ALDH2 and were evaluated both before and following placebo and 0.75 ml/kg alcohol. T he two groups did not differ significantly on blood alcohol concentrat ions after drinking, but did differ in electroencephalographic (EEG) r esponse on the falling phase of the blood alcohol curve. Nonflushing s ubjects displayed significant increases in slow-alpha EEG activity (7. 5-9.0 Hz) at 90 and 150 min post-alcohol consumption, compared to flus hing subjects who did not show characteristic increases in this freque ncy band at these timepoints. These data suggest flushers, those with at least one ALDH22 allele, have less of slow-alpha wave EEG response to alcohol than nonflushers with ALDH21/2*1 genotype.