ETHANOL METABOLISM IN ISOLATED, PERFUSED RAT LIVER

The rate of ethanol oxidation in the continuously perfused, isolated rat liver was studied by measuring the rate of disappearance of the alcohol from the perfusate. Corrections were made for losses due to aspiration. The initial rate of ethanol oxidation was about what was expected from studies in vivo, but the rate decreased with time until at the end of 3 hr it was less than half that observed initially. The suspicion that the declining rate of ethanol oxidation may have been due to lowering NAD : NADH ratios was strengthened by the observation that the decline was impeded, or diminished rates of ethanol oxidation were restored, when pyruvate and fructose, substances known to promote the conversion of NADH to NAD, were added to the perfusion fluid. Studies were performed which showed that the initial rate of ethanol oxidation does not decline in vivo. © 1969.