Ethanol Metabolism in Vivo and the Role of Hepatic Microsomal Ethanol Oxidation

Abstract

The rate of blood alcohol disappearance was unaltered by the administration of agents that either enhance (phenobarbital, benzopyrene) or inhibit (aminotriazole) the microsomal ethanol oxidizing system even when the principal enzyme for ethanol oxidation, alcohol dehydrogenase, was inhibited by pyrazole. Microsomal ethanol oxidation thus appears to have little quantitative importance in ethanol metabolism in vivo.