• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.222-239
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of alcohol on the psychomotor performance and subjective assessment in healthy Korean adults with acetaldehyde dehydrogenase I(ALDH-I) isozyme variance. A total of 20 male subjects, half with active ALDH-I and the other half with inactive ALDH-I, were selected through both a self-reporting questionnaire examining alcohol sensitivity and the Higuchi's ethanol patch test detecting ALDH-I deficiency. In a doule-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over design, each subject consumed four doses of alcohol(0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0g/kg) and placebo on five separate occasions at weekly intervals, Treatment order was fully balanced using a $5{\times}5$ Latin square, Psychomotor performance tests[coritical flicker fusion threshold(CFF) and choice reaction time(CRT)] and self-estimate questionnaires were conducted at baseline and at time points of 20, 40, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180 minutes after consuming the test drug for 20 minutes, Blood alcohol concentrations(BACs) using breath analyzer were measured at baseline and at time points of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 150, 180 minutes after drinking, The BACs and the mean changes in the psychomotor performances and subjective assessments from pre-alcohol baseline, were compared between the two groups. The findings were summarized as follows : 1) BACs were tended to be higher in the inactive group than the active in all of the four alcohol doses. However significant group differences were only after the 0.5g/kg dose of alcohol. 2) The inactive group showed significant impairment in CFFT at most time points alter 0.75 and 1.0g/kg doses of alcohol. 3) In CRT, total reaction time(TRT) significantly prolonged in the inactive group than the active group at 20 minutes after 0.25 and 1.0g/kg doses of alcohol and at 40, 60, 90 minutes alter 0.75g/kg dose of alcohol. In the inactive group, recognition time component significantly increased at 20, 60, 90 minutes after 1.0g/kg dose of alcohol, while movement time component significantly increased at 40, 60 minutes after 0.75g/kg dose of alcohol. 4) Subjective evaluation of the effect of alcohol revealed that physical and mental conditions as well as a self-estimate of the effects of alcohol on performance were significantly worse in the inactive group than the active at some time points alter all of the lour alcohol doses, wihch were more pronounced after 0.75 and 1.0g/kg doses of alcohol. 5) Most of the group differences mentioned above, still remained statistically significant after BAC was entered as a covariate, These findings demonstrated that the alcohol sensitivity is higher in individuals with inactive ALDH-I than those with active ALDH-I both on the subjective assessments and the objective psychomotor performances. Furthermore, these results suggest thai the alcohol sensitivity may be determined by acetaldehyde concentration rather than BAC per se. In future studies, after more accurate genotyping for ALDH-I, the relationships between BAC, acetaldehyde concentration and alcohol sensitivities should be clearly defined.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.828-834
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• 2006

We investigated whether two-kinds of mixture (NHDT-1 and NHDT-2) mainly composed of Hovenia dulcis Thunb had beneficial actions for alcohol and acetaldehyde degradation in acute alcohol treatment and liver protection from fatty liver induced by chronic alcohol administration. In acute alcohol degradation experiment, serum alcohol and acetaldehyde concentrations exhibited lower 1, 3 and 5 hours after taking 3 g ethanol per kg body weight in NHDT-1 treated rats, but not NHDT-2 including ginseng. On the contrast to the acute effect on alcohol degradation, the long-term alcohol administration revealed that NHDT-2, not NHDT-1, protected the increase in serum concentration of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotrasferase and ${\gamma}-triglyceride$ metabolism similar to the rats not consuming alcohol, leading to decreased triglyceride accumulation in blood and liver. In liver morphological study, NHDT-1 preserved the regular hepatocyte morphology, decreased fat accumulation and reduced sinusoidal leukocyte infiltration in hepatocytes. In conclusion, NHDT-1 plays an important role in alcohol and acetaldehyde degradation without protecting liver damage while NHDT-2 works as hepatocyte protector from alcohol mediated damage.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.300-306
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• 2014

Ethanol consumption causes psychomotor alterations. Hovenia Semen seu Fructus (HS), widely distributed in Korea, China, and Japan, has been reported to have beneficial effects on acute alcohol-induced liver injury. The present study sought to assess the effects of HS extract on ethanol-induced psychomotor alterations in rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were orally (p.o.) given ethanol (4 g/kg) (ethanol group) to induce psychomotor alterations. A separate group (HS-treated groups), were treated with different dosages of HS (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg, p.o.), 30 minutes before ethanol treatment. The control group received only the vehicle (saline). Ethanol-induced psychomotor alterations were evaluated in the open-field, rota-rod, hanging wire, and cold swimming test. In addition, blood ethanol and acetaldehyde concentrations were also measured. Behavioral evaluations and blood analysis were carried out 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 8 hours after ethanol administration. Pre-treatment of HS ameliorated ethanol-induced alterations in the open-field, rota-rod, and cold swimming test, significantly evident in 2 and 4 hours after ethanol treatment. These improvements coincided with decrease in blood ethanol and acetaldehyde concentration. Based on these results, the present study suggests that HS may have ameliorating effects against ethanol-induced psychomotor alterations.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.492-497
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• 1997

A difference in ethanol metabolism between premature and young adult rats was examined. Female SD rats, either 4wk or 12wk old, were injected with a single dose of ethanol (1.5g /kg) through jugular vein and the blood ethanol level was monitored for 300 min using a gas chromatographic method. Reduction of blood ethanol level per unit of time was less and the area under the blood concentration-time curve (AUC) was significantly greater in young adults compared to premature rats. Activity of hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase was not influenced by the age increase. Total cytochrome P-450, cytochrome $b_5$. or aminopyrine N-demethylation was not different between premature rats and young adult rats. However, p-nitrophenol hydroxylation and p-nitroanisole O-demethylation activities were significantly higher in premature rats. The relative liver weight was 45% greater in premature rats leading to an overall increase in ethanol metabolizing activity in these animals. The results indicate that the reduction in ethanol elimination in young adult rats appears to be mostly associated with the decrease in relative liver weight as the age of animals increases.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.37-53
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• 1973

For the elucidation of the metabolic effects due to alcoholic drink and moldy rice intake author designed two experiments as follows. In the first experiment, sixty male and female rats, divided into six groups, 10 rats each in both sexes, were given 7.5% sucrose-30% alcohol solution (Jinro-Soju) and diets varied of fat content (2%, 7%, 30% of diet) and protein quality (casein, bean, anchovy) for 6 weeks. In the Second experiment, six groups of rats, 10 male rats each, were fed the diets containing zero, 5%, 10%, 25%, 50%, and 100% moldy rice contaminated Penicillium Islandicum and the experimental periods were 4 weeks and 6 weeks. The results of these studies due to the toxicity of alcohol consumption and moldy rice ingestion of the fatty liver production and the other effects are as follows. 1. Food intake of alcohol consumed groups decreased to 50%-70% of that of standard group. In the second study, there was no significant differences on food intake due to the different contents of moldy rice and experimental period. 2. On the view paint of body weight gain, the body weight of alcohol consumed groups gained much less than that of standard group, because food consumption was decreased due to alcohol ingestion. 3. In comparison of F.E.R. and P.E.R. between standard and experimental groups, there was no significant differences in this study. 4. As a matter of fact, there was no significance on the nitrogen balance in both studies. 5. From the result of hematology, R.B.C. counts, W.B.C. counts, hemoglobin, and hematocrit showed normal values in all groups including in this study. So we might conclude that the toxicity of alcohol and moldy rice do not effect significantly on blood picture. 6. The larger organs shrank on the range of 20%-70% of that against standard group in this study. The major reason for the shrinkage of organs might be account of decreased food consumption due to alcoholic drink. There was no great changes on the organ weight due to the ingestion of moldy rice. 7. The nitrogen content in various organs in both experiments was revealed at the normal level for the worst condition in terms of the least food intake. In other word, it was noteworthy that the concentration of nitrogen in various organs was kept at the normal ratio as standard groups under the circumstances of this study. 8. The lipid content in the liver of rats fed alcohol and diets containing either various lipid contents or protein quality did not increase. Hepatic lipids accumulation due to the dietary fat content was observed, but there wvas no significances among the compared groups. In the second experiment, the difference of hepatic lipid content between the moldy rice groups and standard group was not showed. In addition to the result of total lipid, hepatic free cholesterol, free fatty acid, and triglyceride did not change in both studies, we might conclude that the toxicity of alcohol and moldy rice could not effect on the hepatic lipid contents. 9. There was no significant differences on the serum glucose level between alcohol groups and standard group. In the second experiment, serum glucose level increase in 6th week compared with in 4th week, but there was no significant differences.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.8
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• pp.1139-1147
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• 2014

We investigated whether or not Schisandra chinensis (SC), a traditional herbal medicine, has protective effects against alcohol-induced fatty liver and blood alcohol clearance. Two tests focused on acute intoxication and chronic ethanol treatment were carried out. For the chronic ethanol treatment test, rats were fed ethanol by intragastric administration everyday for 8 weeks to induce alcoholic fatty liver. Ethanol treatment significantly increased blood alcohol concentration at 90 min after acute ethanol intoxication. Compared with the two ethanol-treated groups, rats administered ethanol along with SC extracts showed an approximately 13% increased blood alcohol clearance rate at 360 min. Chronic ethanol treatment significantly increased serum and hepatic triglyceride (TG) levels, and caused fatty degeneration of liver. Ethanol treatment also elevated the serum total-cholesterol (TC) level. However, after feeding of ethanol plus SC extracts, ethanol-induced elevation of hepatic TG levels reversed, whereas elevation of serum TG and TC levels was not observed after treatment with SC extracts. Ethanol treatment significantly increased ${\gamma}$-GT, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase activities after 8 weeks. Compared with the ethanol-fed group, rats administered ethanol plus SC extracts for 4 weeks showed attenuated fatty degeneration as well as decreased hepatic function test values. SC administration also significantly increased intracellular lipid accumulation in hepatocytes and reduced steatosis score and hepatic TG levels, as measured by biochemical and histolopathological analyses. Our results indicate that the protective effects of SC are accompanied by a significant decrease in hepatic TG levels, thereby suggesting SC has the ability to prevent ethanol-induced fatty liver, by reducing hepatic TG and enzyme levels in alcoholic rats.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.151-158
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• 2020

Alcohol, which can easily be obtained in the same way as ordinary beverages, is harmful enough to cause death due to excessive drinking and chronic alcohol intake, so it is important to maintain a proper amount of drinking and healthy drinking habits. In addition, the incidence of behavioral disturbances and impaired judgments that can be caused by chronic alcohol drinking of more than adequate amounts of alcohol is also significant. Accordingly it is very useful for forensic science to check whether the person involved is drunken or is alcoholism state in various accidents. Currently, in Korea, alcohol consumption is determined by detecting the level of alcohol or alcohol metabolism 'ethyl glucuronide (EtG)' in blood or urine samples. However, analysis of alcohol or EtG in blood or urine can only provide information about the current state of alcohol consumption because of a narrow window of detection time. Therefore, it is important to analyze the EtG as a long-term direct alcohol metabolite bio-marker in human hair and to investigate relationship between alcohol consumption and EtG concentration for the evaluation of chronic ethanol consumption. In this study, we established an analytical method for the detection of EtG in Korean hair efficiently and validated selectivity, linearity, limits of detection (LOD), limits of quantification (LOQ), matrix effect, recovery, process efficiency, accuracy and precision using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In addition, the assay performance was evaluated in Korean social drinker's hair and the postmortem hair of a chronic alcoholism. The results of this study can be useful in monitoring the alcohol abuse of Korean in clinical cases and legal procedures related to custody and provide a useful tool to evaluate postmortem diagnosis of alcoholic ketoacidosis in forensics.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.17 no.1 s.28
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• pp.27-32
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• 1981

It has been known that ethanol stimulates the secretion of gastric acid regardless of its route of administration. Recently, however, some studies have challenged this view and claimed that ethanol inhibits the gastric acid secretion. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of ethanol on the gastric acid secretion in anesthetized rat in respect to the route of administration and the concentration of alcohol. Normal saline (pH adjusted to 6.0) was used as standard perfusion solution and ethanol was mixed as 0.8, 1.7, 5, 10 and 20%. Four ml of perfusion fluid was given into stomach via gastric tube and drained from duodenal tube every 5 min. Acid secretion was measured by back titration to pH 6.0 with N/20 NaOH and expressed as ${\mu}Eq/5$ min. Low concentration of ethanol up to 1.7% in perfusion solution caused little changes in acid secretion, but moderate concentration such as perfusion of 5% or 10% ethanol solution inhibited both the basal and histamine-induced gastric secretion. Moreover, loss of perfused acid was seen by 20% ethanol, which means back diffusion of hydrogen ions into the gastric mucosa. However, intravenous administration of ethanol, maintained at the level of 0.1% alcohol in blood, caused significant stimulation of gastric acid. We, therefore, conclude that in anesthetized rat ethanol has dual effects on acid secretion, i.e., inhibiting and enhancing by oral and intravenous administration, respectively, but further investigation is necessary to clarify these effects.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 2013

Arsenic (As) is a well-known human carcinogen and its dietary exposure has been found to be the major route of entry into general population. This study was performed to assess the body levels of As and their associated factors in Korean adults by analyzing total As in urine. Urine and blood samples were collected from 580 adults aged 20 years and older, who had not been exposed to As occupationally. Demographic information was collected with the help of a standard questionnaire, including age, smoking, alcohol intake, job profiles, and diet consumed in the last 24 hrs of the study. Total As, sum of As(III), As(V), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), in urine was determined using atomic absorption spectrometer involving hydride generation method. The geometric mean concentration of total As in urine was $7.10{\mu}g/L$. Urine As was significantly higher in men ($7.63{\mu}g/L$) than in women ($6.75{\mu}g/L$). Age, smoking, alcohol consumption, and job profiles of study subjects did not significantly affect the concentration of As in urine. No significant relationship was observed between body mass index (BMI), Fe, and total cholesterol in serum and urinary As. Urine As level was positively correlated with seaweeds, fishes & shellfishes, and grain intake. A negative correlation between urinary As level and HDL-cholesterol in serum and meat intake was observed. Overall, these results suggest that urinary As concentration could be affected by seafood consumption. Therefore, people who frequently consume seafood and grain need to be monitored for chronic dietary As exposure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.87-94
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• 2005

Results from previous studies revealed that metal level in the body is related to certain types of diseases. For example. serum copper level with chronic heart failure, iron and transferrin in the blood serum with acute cerebral vascular diseases, Zn in the CNS, lead with neurotoxicity, hypertension, genetic damage, arsenic with cancer skin lesion, Al with neurobehavioral function (cognitive impairment and memory disorder), and etc. The rate of stroke has increased in recent years and several metals were found to be responsible for causing stroke. This study compared several blood metal concentrations between stroke and non-stroke patients. Patients with stroke (116 samples) and non-stroke (111 samples including lowback pain and others) participated in this study. Total of 227 blood samples were collected and participants completed questionnaires regarding age, gender, occupation, residence, alcohol, smoking, and etc. To be qualified into the stroke group, patients have never experienced stroke previously. Subjects only included ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage patients diagnosed by brain CT and brain MRI. Patients with high risk of metal exposure such as herbal intake and job related exposure were excluded. 10ml of blood samples were analyzed by ICP-MS method at the Center of Nature and Science at Sangji University. Metal geometric mean (SD) concentrations in blood of study subjects showed higher values, 2.64-36.12%, than WHO reference values in Mn, Ni, Hg, Se, and As. Metal concentration in blood of stroke patients non-adjusted for potential confounders was higher except for Hg and also higher except for Ni in adjusted for potential confounders. Co was significantly higher in stroke patients (p=0.002) than non-stroke patients adjusted for potential confounders. Regression coefficient values of stroke patients was 0.17-8.25 in each metals. Odd ratio of stroke patients had 0.96 (Ni)-2.68 (Co) compared to non-stroke cases. This result means that Co increase of 1 raises the risk ratio of stroke by 2.86 times. Based on the results, metal concentration in blood seems to affect incidence of stroke.