oxalates and Alcoholism

Topics: Adult; Alcoholism; Animals; Calcium; Child; Child, Preschool; Dietary Carbohydrates; Dietary Fats; Dietary Proteins; Female; Glycine; Glyoxylates; Humans; Infant; Magnesium; Male; Middle Aged; Oxalates; Phosphorus; Rats; Urinary Calculi; Vitamin B 6 Deficiency

A previous study showed that all kinds of wines or ethanol extended lifespan. Skrott et al. described the death-preventing effect of the alcohol-abuse drug disulfiram. However, this effect, perhaps mediated at least in part by overconsumption of ethanol, cannot be excluded. Carcinogenesis can be resulted from the local buildup of HCl. Similar in molecular structure to oxalate, wines or ethanol of all kinds and acetic acid extend lifespan, despite that ethanol is moderately carcinogenic. Cancer cells are likely to overproduce organic acids such as oxalate to counteract strong acids, and the insoluble calcium oxalate is stressful to cells. It is postulated that ethanol inhibits the generation of oxalate, and thus reduces cancer mortality. To confirm this hypothesis, an extensive epidemiological studies can be performed on cancer patients to show that heavy wine drinkers have lower mortality rates than control groups without the use of alcohol-abuse drugs. This experiment will illuminate the positive and negative sides of ethanol intake, and pave the way for establishing better strategies to treat cancer.

Topics: Acetic Acid; Acids; Alcohol Drinking; Alcoholism; Calcium Oxalate; Disulfiram; Ethanol; Humans; Hydrogen Bonding; Neoplasms; Oxalates; Wine

We describe a reliable and sensitive semiautomated spectrophotometric assay of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH; EC 1.2.1.3) activity in erythrocytes. The hemolysate can be stabilized with sucrose, and the technique involves only microliters of hemolysate on a centrifugal analyzer. The use of microcolumns to remove interfering hemoglobin is avoided, and reproducibility of the assay has been improved by manipulating the inherent lactate dehydrogenase activity of erythrocytes by adding lactate and oxalate to the reaction mixture. These modifications have decreased the analytical imprecision of the assay, allowing a better appraisal of aldehyde dehydrogenase activity in erythrocytes as a biological marker of excess alcohol consumption. Erythrocytic ALDH activity was significantly less in 40 alcoholics than in 145 teetotallers (median activity 128 vs 219 mU/g of hemoglobin, respectively; P = 0.0001), indicating the potential of this assay as a useful marker of excess alcohol consumption.

Topics: Acetaldehyde; Alcoholism; Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; Aldehydes; Drug Stability; Erythrocytes; Humans; Kinetics; Lactates; Lactic Acid; Oxalates; Oxalic Acid; Quality Control; Reference Values; Spectrophotometry

Acetaldehyde, the first metabolite of ethanol, reacts with haemoglobin in vitro to produce acetaldehyde-haemoglobin adducts. Some clinical studies on the minor haemoglobins have suggested that these adducts may be formed in people abusing alcohol. Under hydrolysis of haemoglobin, with oxalic acid at 100 degrees C in sealed vials, some acetaldehyde was released and then specifically determined by HPLC. The kinetics of hydrolysis were studied using haemoglobin previously labelled with 14[C] acetaldehyde. The maximum liberation of 14 [C] acetaldehyde was obtained after 3 hr 30 min hydrolysis and this time factor was then utilized in the analysis of alcoholic and control haemoglobin. Thus, we have confirmed the formation of acetaldehyde haemoglobin adducts in vivo. It must be noted that the released acetaldehyde corresponds only to an index of the stable adducts. The levels were higher in alcoholics than in controls (1.417 +/- 0.171 and 1.295 +/- 0.139 nmol/mg Hb, respectively, P less than 0.001). In conclusion, this marker is not a convenient tool for the monitoring of alcohol exposure levels because of the low differences between alcoholic and control haemoglobins.

Topics: Acetaldehyde; Adult; Aged; Alcoholism; Carbon Radioisotopes; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Hemoglobins; Humans; Hydrolysis; Male; Middle Aged; Oxalates; Oxalic Acid; Phenylhydrazines

Topics: Acidosis; Adult; Aged; Alcoholism; Bicarbonates; Coma; Dialysis; Ethylenes; Female; Glycols; Humans; Intubation; Male; Mental Disorders; Oxalates; Poisoning; Respiration, Artificial; Tromethamine