Ethanol metabolism in ALDH2 knockout mice--blood acetate levels.

We described here blood acetate levels in aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 knockout (ALDH2 KO) male mice based on C57BL/6J strain after ethanol (EtOH) dosing (2 g/kg). Blood samples were collected at 30, 60, 90, 120 180, and 240 min after decapitation, and then EtOH, acetaldehyde (AcH) and acetate were determined by head-space gas chromatography. We found that blood acetate levels in ALDH2 KO mice were slightly lower than those in wild type (WT), whereas EtOH and AcH levels in ALDH2 KO were significantly higher than those in WT. These observations indicate that high EtOH, AcH and low acetate in the blood of ALDH2 KO are due to the deficient effect of ALDH2 enzyme activity.