The topic for Tuesday’s lecture is ethanol metabolism. You can download a condensed version of the power point presentation, in adobe PDF format, by clicking this link:
Ethanol metabolism

The required reading for this topic is Chapter 25 of Mark’s Basic Medical Biochemistry, the review article by Seitz and Meier, and the NIAAA Clinician’s Guide (links to these materials are in separate posts below).

The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol (NIAAA) is an institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They support research into the effects of alcohol and disseminate findings to researchers, health care professionals, and the public.

The NIAAA publishes a Clinician’s Guide which contains the latest recommendations for assessing alcohol use in patients and developing treatment strategies for patients who drink too much. Download the guide by clicking this link:

NIAAA Clinician’s Guide

Read the guide, then answer the questions in the “more” section of this post.
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Ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes, primarily ADH1. Many of the acute and chronic ill effects of ethanol are attributable to acetaldehyde. This review article by Helmut Seitz and Patrick Meier describes acetaldehyde toxicity, with an emphasis on acetaldehyde as a cancer promoter.

link to Seitz and Meier, 2007

click on the “more” link for study questions. . .
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If the rate of ethanol consumption exceeds the rate of metabolism, ethanol will be distributed throughout the body. Watch the video below for some information and a demonstration of how to estimate blood alcohol concentration. Then click the “more” link for a problem you can solve on your own.

Click below for a larger, better quality version of the video:
Ethanol distribution

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This short video describes the main features of ethanol metabolism. You should know the main enzymes and metabolites involved, and which pathways consume energy and which generate energy.

Here is a cleaner version of the video, in windows media format (.wmv):
ethanol metabolism

Watch the following video, which illustrates a simple case which a family physician is likely to encounter.

Here is a high resolution version of the same video:
Case study

Use the comments section of this post to discuss the case.