DISTRIBUTION OF ACETALDEHYDE IN HUMAN BLOOD - EFFECTS OF ETHANOL AND TREATMENT WITH DISULFIRAM

The distribution of free and bound acetaldehyde in human blood was stu died. Fresh whole blood was precipitated with a perchloric acid (PCA) in saline solution and an aliquot of the crude sample was taken for de termination of 'total' acetaldehyde. The remaining sample was centrifu ged and the clear supernatant taken for analysis of 'soluble' acetalde hyde. 'Bound' acetaldehyde was calculated by subtracting soluble from total amounts. In samples collected from healthy control subjects, the acetaldehyde level in separated plasma was usually below the limit of detection of the method (0.2 muM), while much higher concentrations ( > 2.5 muM) were detected when analyses were carried out on whole blood . In whole blood, about 70% was recovered as bound (i.e. PCA-insoluble ) acetaldehyde. The soluble (i.e. free + PCA-soluble) level was higher than that found in separated plasma, suggesting that some acetaldehyd e was liberated from the blood cells by PCA treatment. In blood spiked with ethanol, a spontaneous formation of acetaldehyde occurred during the analytical procedure. The artefactual formation increased only th e soluble amount, while the bound level remained unchanged. Likewise, in samples drawn from intoxicated subjects, artefactual formation of a cetaldehyde was observed in the soluble fraction, while the bound amou nt was not significantly increased. No significant differences in acet aldehyde levels were found between males and females, nor between heal thy control subjects and alcoholic patients undergoing treatment with the aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitor disulfiram (Antabuse(R)). However , some of the Antabuse patients possessed elevated levels of bound ace taldehyde.