In vitro effect of ethanol on subpopulations of human blood mononuclear cells

Mononuclear cells from 10 healthy blood donors were incubated with ethanol at 37 degrees C for 30 min. An ethanol concentration of 10.0 g/l reduced the percentage of active E rosette-forming cells (E RFC) from 25.0 +/- 12.1 to 16.2 +/- 8.7, and the percentage of total E RFC from 70.3 +/- 8.5 to 59.7 +/- 13.5 (p less than 0.01 for both). The percentage of cells with phagocytizing capacity was reduced from 11.7 +/- 5.4 to 7.0 +/- 5.0 by the ethanol treatment (p less than 0.01). Incubation with ethanol at a concentration of 1.0 g/l also significantly reduced the number of active and total E RFC and of phagocytizing cells. Ethanol at a concentration of 0.1 g/l did not influence these cell subpopulations. The number of EA RFC and EAC RFC were not influenced by ethanol.