Alcohol abuse and alcoholism remain major causes of ill-health and human suffering in the western world at an astronomical expense. In fact, a report of 1990 figures indicates that alcohol-related problems resulted in $140 billion in capital expenditure. Since recent studies suggest that the occurrence of alcohol abuse could be highly influenced by the presence or absence of key metabolizing enzymes across ethnic populations, the elaborate ethnic bonds and cultural syntax that accrue from ethnicity may indeed serve to improve or worsen biological fitness. Thus, alcohol abuse, alcoholism and the disastrous toll in human lives and property that arise therefrom (across populations), do so only with some degree of complicity, with ethno-genetic factors. To further understand the complex interplay of factors between alcohol and ethno-genetics, this pilot study proposes to determine how alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH2) genotypes and liver volume (LV) influence alcohol elimination rate (AER), using the Indiana Breath Alcohol Clamping (BrAC) technique. It is hypothesized that the ADH2 genotype and LV are the primary determinants of AER within ethnic populations.
The Specific Aims therefore, are to: 1) Identify the frequency of the ADH2 genotypes across ethnic groups (African Americans--AF-AM; Africans [Nigerians]--AF-Ni; Africans [Ethiopians]--AF-Et; and Caucasians--CAU), 2) Determine LV across ethnic groups (African Americans--AF-AM; Africans [Nigerians]--AF-Ni; Africans [Ethiopians]--AF-Et; and Caucasians--CAU), 3) Assess the influence on AER within defined ADH2 genotype (ADH2*1), and 4) Compare AER between ADH2*1 and ADH2*3 genotypes for a defined range of LV.
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