ABSTRACT
It was compared 72 patients with alcohol dependence (AD) and endogenous depression (ED) and 30 patients with AD without comorbid affective pathology. It has been shown that the development of alcohol dependence in individuals with ED is slower than in patients without ED. A lack of a family history of addictive pathology was noted to be a predictor of a more favorable course of alcohol dependence in patients with ED.
Subject(s)
Alcoholism/epidemiology , Depressive Disorder/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Age Distribution , Aged , Alcoholism/complications , Comorbidity , Depressive Disorder/etiology , Disease Progression , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Risk Factors , Russia/epidemiology , Sex Distribution , Socioeconomic Factors , Young AdultABSTRACT
Red cell aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH, EC 1.2.1.3) activity was measured by spectrophotometry in normal subjects and alcoholics after various periods of alcohol abstinence. ALDH was measured in all red cell hemolysate fractions; red cells were purified from hemoglobin by Sephadex CM-50 chromatography. The enzyme activity was found reduced in alcoholics' red cells as against that in controls. ALDH activities were somewhat increasing and approaching the normal values in the patients not using ethanol for 4 weeks or longer. These results recommend ALDH measurements in human red cells as a test for the detection of subjects abusing alcohol.
Subject(s)
Alcoholism/enzymology , Aldehyde Dehydrogenase/blood , Erythrocytes/enzymology , Adult , Alcoholism/blood , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
Activity of creatine kinase (CK) and its isoenzymes was studied in blood serum of 32 patients with alcohol abstinent syndrome of various severity as well as in persons with long-term remission (from 1 to 14 years) as compared with the enzymatic activity in healthy volunteers. The severity of alcohol abstinent syndrome correlated with an increase in the total enzyme activity in blood, where content of the all three CK isoenzymes (MM, MB and BB), especially of BB-CK, was elevated. Content of MB and BB isozymes was increased in blood of patients with long-term remission, while activity of each of the isozyme constituted up to 20-30% of total CK activity, which was by one decimal order higher as compared with control values. Importance of the alterations observed in activity of creatine kinase and its isoenzymes for diagnosis of alcoholism, especially under conditions of alcohol abuse and long-term alcohol abstinence, is discussed.
Subject(s)
Alcoholism/diagnosis , Creatine Kinase/blood , Adult , Clinical Enzyme Tests , Humans , Isoenzymes , Middle Aged , Time FactorsABSTRACT
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.
