Abstract
Chronic ethanol ingestion (8–12 g/kg bodyweight per day) by rats led to a significant rise in the levels of total brain aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity. This effect was noted after 60 days from the start of the ethanol regimen and was found to parallel reduction in levels of liver ALDH activity. Neither the normal levels of whole brain ALDH activity nor ALDH inducibility were significantly affected by age. Furthermore, while the normal level of brain ALDH was consistently higher in females, the magnitude of induction of the enzyme was larger in males. Finally, there were differences in normal levels of ALDH as well as in ALDH inducibility between the cortex, the midbraindiencephalon and the cerebellum. The data suggest that induction of brain ALDH activity may reflect a physiological mechanism that mediates the adaptation of neurones in the brain to some of the acetaldehyde-mediated effects of ethanol. The implications of these findings to the development of tolerance to ethanol are discussed.
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