No sex and age influence on the expression pattern and activities of human gastric alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases

Background: Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) are the principal enzymes responsible for ethanol metabolism in humans. The stomach is involved in the metabolism of alcohol during absorption. Conflicting reports exist with regard to the influence of sex and age on the activity of ADH in the human gastric mucosa. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of age and sex on the expression pattern and activities of stomach ADH and ALDH. Methods: A total of 115 endoscopic gastric biopsy specimens were investigated from Han Chinese men (n = 70) and women (n = 45) aged 20-79 years with approximately even distribution among 10-year age intervals. The expression patterns of ADH and ALDH were identified by isoelectric focusing, and the activities were assayed spectrophotometrically. Results: The expression patterns of gastric ADH and ALDH remained unchanged with respect to sex and age. At 33 mM or 500 mM ethanol, pH 7.5, the ADH activities did not differ significantly among the Various age groups or between men and women. At 200 muM or 20 mM acetaldehyde, the ALDH activities did not differ significantly in relation to sex and age. Na correlations were found between the ADH or ALDH activities at both the high and low substrate concentrations and the ages in men and women. Conclusions: The results indicate that there is no significant effect of either sex or age on the expression pattern and activity of ADH and ALDH in the human gastric mucosa. The stomach ADH seems unlikely to account for possible variations in the first-pass metabolism of alcohol with regard to sex and age.