Abstract
Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), the principal enzymes responsible for oxidative metabolism of ethanol, exist in multiple, genetically determined molecular forms. Widely different kinetic properties in some of these isozymes account for the individual differences in alcohol sensitivity. In this study we used the polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism method to determine the genotypes of the ADH2 and ALDH2 loci of alcoholic and nonalcoholic Chinese living in Shanghai. We also investigated the subjects' drinking patterns by means of semistructured interviews. The alcoholics had significantly lower frequencies of the ADH22 and ALDH22 alleles than did the nonalcoholics, suggesting the inhibitory effects of these alleles for the development of alcoholism. In the nonalcoholic subjects, ADH22 had little, if any, effect, despite the significant effect of the ALDH22 allele in decreasing the alcohol consumption of the individual. Taken together, these results fit the proposed hypothesis for the development of alcoholism, i.e., drinking behavior is greatly influenced by the individual's gentoypes of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes, and the risk of becoming alcoholic is proportionate with the ethanol consumption of the individual.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bosron WF, Li T-K (1986) Genetic polymorphism of human liver alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase, and their relationship to alcohol metabolism and alcoholism. Hepatology 6:502–510
Bosron WF, Li T-K (1988) Catalytic and structural properties of the human liver ββ alcohol dehydrogenase isoenzymes. In: Kuriyama K, Takada A, Ishii H (eds) Biomedical and social aspects of alcohol and alcoholism. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 31–34
Crabb DW, Edenberg HJ, Bosron WF, Li T-K (1989) Genotypes for aldehyde dehydrogenase deficiency and alcohol sensitivity: the inactive ALDH22 allele is dominant. J Clin Invest 83:314–316
Harada S (1992) New strategy for the detection of ALDH2 mutant. In: Association for the Study of Alcohol Metabolism and the Liver (eds) Alcohol metabolism and the liver. Toyo Shoten, Tokyo, pp 12–14
Harada S, Agarwal DP, Goedde HW (1981) Aldehyde dehydrogenase deficiency as a cause of facial flushing reaction to alcohol in Japanese. Lancet II:982
Harada S, Agarwal DP, Goedde HW, Takagi S, Ishikawa B (1982) Possible protective role against alcoholism for aldehyde dehydrogenase isozyme deficiency in Japan. Lancet II:827
Higuchi S (1995) Polymorphism of ethanol metabolizing enzyme genes and alcoholism. Alcohol Alcohol (in press)
Higuchi S, Muramatsu T, Shigemori K, Saito M, Kono H, Dufour MC, Harford TC (1992) The relationship between low Km aldehyde dehydrogenase phenotype and drinking behavior in Japanese. J Stud Alcohol 53:170–175
Nakamura K, Tanaka A, Takano T (1993) Social cost of alcohol abuse in Japan. J Stud Alcohol 54:618–625
Takeshita T, Morimoto K, Mao X-Q, Hashimoto T, Furuyama J (1994) Characterization of the three genotypes of low Km aldehyde dehydroaenase in a Japanese population. Hum Genet 94:217–223
Thomasson HR, Edenberg HJ, Crabb DW, Mai X-L, Jerome RE, Li T-K, Wang S-P, Lin Y-T, Lu R-B, Yin S-J (1991) Alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase genotypes and alcoholism in Chinese men. Am J Hum Genet 48:677–681
Xu Y, Carr LG, Bosron WF, Li T-K, Edenberg HJ (1988) Genotyping of human alcohol dehydrogenases at the ADH2 and ADH3 loci following DNA sequence amplification. Genomics 2:209–214
Yamamoto K, Ueno Y, Mizoi Y, Tatsuno Y (1993) Genetic polymorphism of alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase and the effects of alcohol metabolism. Jpn J Alcohol Drug Depend 28:13–25
Yoshida A, Huang I-Y, Ikawa M (1984) Molecular abnormality of an inactive aldehyde dehydrogenase variant commonly found in Orientals. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 81:258–261
Yoshida A, Hsu L, Yasunami M (1991) Genetics of human alcohol-metabolizing enzymes. Pros Nucleic Acids Res Mol Biol 40:255–287
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Muramatsu, T., Zu-Cheng, W., Yi-Ru, F. et al. Alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase genotypes and drinking behavior of Chinese living in Shanghai. Hum Genet 96, 151–154 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00207371
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00207371