ANTI-ACETALDEHYDE ADDUCT ANTIBODIES GENERATED BY ETHANOL-FED RATS REACT WITH REDUCED AND UNREDUCED ACETALDEHYDE-MODIFIED PROTEINS

We have previously shown that rats fed ethanol for prolonged periods g enerate antibodies reactive with proteins modified by acetaldehyde in vitro. In this report we demonstrate that these antibodies react with two groups of adducts: those formed when acetaldehyde reacts with prot eins at 37-degrees-C for 24 hr ('unreduced' adducts) and those formed by a 1 hr incubation followed by the addition of sodium cyanoborohydri de (a reducing agent specific for Schiff bases) to the reaction n-mixt ure ('reduced' adducts). These data suggest that adducts from both of these groups are formed in vivo as a result of ethanol ingestion by ra ts.