Plasma alcohol dehydrogenase in normal and alcoholic individuals

Determination of plasma alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) in patients with alcohol-related disorders may be a valuable diagnostic and prognostic parameter. By using a sensitive spectrophotometric method we have measured the plasma ADH activity in chronic alcoholics, non-alcoholic psychiatric patients and healthy blood donors from Germany. Serum alanine aminotransferase (GPT) and serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (gamma-GT) values were included for the comparative study to assess the extent of hepatic complications. The results indicate that plasma ADH activity in alcoholics and non-alcoholic psychiatric patients was significantly raised only when higher GPT and gamma-GT values were observed, which may hint at a generalized liver damage. It is suggested that plasma ADH determination alone is not useful as a diagnostic marker of alcoholism but could be of value when measured in combination with other biochemical parameters.