[Alcohol dehydrogenase activity of human and animal blood serum in acute and chronic alcoholic intoxication]. / Aktivnost' alkogol'degidrogenazy syvorotki krovi cheloveka i zhivotnykh pri ostroi i khronicheskoi alkogol'noi intoksikatsii.

Alcohol dehydrogenase activity (ADH; KP 1.1.1.1.) in blood serum of rats and rabbits is 1 and 2 orders of magnitude higher than in humans. In chronic alcoholics, blood ADN is activated with an increase in alcoholism standing. Twelve hours after acute alcoholic intoxication alcoholics and heavy drinkers manifest a significant reduction in blood ADH activity. Acute alcoholic intoxication does not influence blood ADH in men who do not abuse alcohol. Chronic exposure of rabbits to ethanol leads to a decrease in ADH activity in the liver and to its rise in the blood. ADH activation is observed only in those animals which demonstrate the signs of fatty and protein liver dystrophy. It is concluded that chronic exposure to ethanol does not induce ADH synthesis in the liver. The blood ADH content ascends as a results of an increase in ADH transport from hepatocytes to the bloodstream.

[Changes in dexamethasone test indices and reduction in the rate of serotonin absorption by thrombocytes in chronic alcoholics]. / Izmenenie pokazatelei deksametazonovogo tests i snizhenie skorosti pogloshcheniia serotonina trombotsitami u bol'nykh khronicheskim alkogolizmom.

Seventy-one chronic alcoholics with affective disorders were studied for the dexamethason test (DT) and for the rate of platelet serotonin absorption (RPSA) prior to and following the treatment. A considerable part of the patients displayed pathological changes in DT which correlated with the degree of affective symptomatology. The DT may serve as one of the methods for diagnosing affective disturbances in alcoholism. The RPSA was equally depressed in all the patients studied (by about 30% as against the control group) irrespective of the severity of affective symptomatology. The increase in the activity of central serotoninergic processes expressed in a RPSA decrease seems to reflect an underlying basic biochemical pathology of alcoholism rather than disorders in the affective sphere.

[Concentration of lipids and apolipoproteins A-1 and E in blood plasma of men with acute alcohol intoxication]. / Kontsentratsiia lipidov i apolipoproteinov A-1 i E v plazme krovi muzhchin pri ostroi alkogol'noi intoksikatsii.

Content of lipids and apolipoproteins A-1 and E was studied in blood plasma of men with acute alcohol intoxication as well as within 10-12 hrs after their treatment in a special clinic. Acute alcohol intoxication caused a distinct increase of triglycerides as well as of cholesterol in high and very low density lipoproteins simultaneously with decrease in content of cholesterol in low density lipoproteins. At the same time, content of apolipoprotein A-1 was increased and of apo E--unaltered. Within 12 hrs after treatment of the men concentrations of triglycerides and cholesterol of very low density lipoproteins became quite normal but the other patterns studied did not alter. Alcohol appears to affect the distribution of cholesterol between individual lipoprotein fractions in blood. This process depended distinctly on alteration of apo A-1 concentration in blood plasma.

[Concentration of lipids and apolipoproteins A-I, A-II and E in blood plasma of men with chronic alcoholism]. / Kontsentratsiia lipidov i apolipoproteinov A-I, A-II i E v plazme krovi muzhchin, stradaiushchikh khronicheskim alkogolizmom.

Content of lipids and apolipoproteins A-I, A-II and E was studied in blood plasma of patients with chronic alcoholism under conditions of alcoholic abstinence syndrome and remission. Concentration of total cholesterol was higher by 10% in patients with alcoholic abstinence syndrome as compared with the control group of patients studied at the state of remission. Content of cholesterol in high density lipoproteins was increased up to 76.7 mg/100 ml as compared with 45.7 mg/100 ml in the controls. The increase in cholesterol content was accompanied by elevation in concentration of apo A-I from 132 to 169 mg/100 ml, whereas the content of apo A-II was increased by 9.2 mg/100 ml. In the patients the content of apo E tended to decrease. Content of triglycerides was increased by 20-25% in blood. All the alterations in concentration of lipids and apolipoproteins returned to the normal level after 3-4 weeks of abstinence from alcohol intake. The increase in content of cholesterol in high density lipoproteins and of these lipoproteins was apparently due to stimulation of these substances formation and inhibition of their catabolism in liver tissue impaired with alcohol.