Alcohol-intoxicationslows body's efforts to restore normal blood pressure after small blood lossThe intoxicated rats alsotake longer to return to normal blood pressure after adequate fluid is returnedto the body through the equivalent of an IV drip.The LSU study is the firstto isolate and explain the mechanism through which alcohol intoxication causesthese negative effects. Understanding the mechanism of impaired compensatoryresponses to blood loss in intoxicated but otherwise healthy individuals opensthe way to finding clinical approaches to decrease the severity of outcome andcare-related costs for these patients.Thedetermination of human blood acetaldehyde (AcH) concentrations is complicatedby two artefactual reactions, one resulting in the disappearance of AcH priorto deproteinization of the blood and the other resulting in the formation ofAcH during deproteinization. The AcH formation increases with increasingethanol concentration and decreases with increasing blood dilution, while therapid AcH disappearance is initiated at the start of the blood collection. Blood methanol levels decreasedat the rate of 0.29 ± 0.04 mg/100 ml/hr only after blood ethanollevels decreased to 70 to 20 mg/100 ml. Methanol probablyaccumulates in the blood as a result of competitive inhibition ofalcohol dehydrogenase by ethanol and the presence of endogenouslyformed methanol or its metabolites may contribute to the severity ofintoxication and/or the alcohol withdrawal syndrome."Determination ofEndogenous Ethanol in Blood and Breath By Gas Chromatography, 18 Pharmacology,Biochemistry and Behavior 267 (1983).
Accumulation of methanolin blood was detected in alcoholic subjects during a 10- to 15-dayperiod of chronic alcohol intake. Blood methanol levels increasedprogressively from 0.2 to 2.7 mg/100 ml from the 1st to 11th day ofdrinking, when blood ethanol concentrations ranged between 150 and450 mg/100 ml. Blood ethanol was eliminated at the rate of 272 ± 3mg/100 ml/hr within 14 to 18 hours after cessation of drinking. Bloodmethanol levels decreased at the rate of 0.29 ± 0.04 mg/100 ml/hronly after blood ethanol levels decreased to 70 to 20 mg/100 ml.Blood methanol disappearance lagged behind the linear disappearance ofethanol by approximately six to eight hours and complete clearanceof blood methanol required several days. The pattern of accumulationand clearance of methanol and ethanol was similar for subjects whoconsumed either beverage alcohol (bourbon) or methanol-free grainalcohol. Methanol probably accumulates in the blood as a result ofcompetitive inhibition of alcohol dehydrogenase by ethanol and thepresence of endogenously formed methanol or its metabolites maycontribute to the severity of intoxication and/or the alcoholwithdrawal syndrome