332 



E. JACOBSEN 



VOL. 4 (1950) 



blood in the two series is shown. When the same amount of acetaldehyde is metabolized, 

 the level of acetaldehyde in blood is higher in the Antabuse-treated animals than in the 

 untreated ones. The smaller the amounts of acetaldehyde metabolized per minute, the 

 greater is the relative difference between the two groups. When 0.75-2.0 mg is infused 

 per minute, the acetaldehyde level in blood of the Antabuse-treated rabbits is 5-10 times 

 that of the normal animals, whereas it is less than twice when 8-9 mg are infused per 

 minute. The same results are obtained in perfusion experiments with isolated liver and 

 hind limbs. An account of these experiments will be published at a later date. 



If acetaldehyde is found as a normal split product in metabolism, the experiments 

 described here show that this will result in an increased concentration of acetaldehyde 

 in the blood of rabbits treated with Antabuse. Acetaldehyde in blood was determined 

 in normal and Antabuse-treated rabbits. The results are given in Table I. No significant 

 statistical difference between the two groups is seen. 



1 2 3 ^ 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 



mg ocefaldehyde infused per minute 



Fig. I. Correlation between infusion rate of acetaldehyde into the jugular vein and mg acetaldehyde 

 per 100 ml blood in normal rabbits and rabbits treated with Antabuse (tetraethylthiuramdisulphide) 



Similar results are obtained in perfusion experiments. A series of livers and hind 

 limbs from normal rabbits and rabbits treated with Antabuse were artificially perfused 

 with blood as described by Nielsen (1933). On an average the livers weighed about 

 80 g, and the muscles of the hind limbs 430 g. The average oxygen uptake per minute 

 was 1-3 ml per minute in the livers and 2-4 ml per minute in the hind limbs. When 

 acetaldehyde was added to the perfusion blood, the blood which passed through the 

 livers or muscles from Antabuse-treated animals showed a considerably higher concen- 

 tration of acetaldehyde than blood that passed through organs of normal animals. 

 From the amount of blood perfused per minute and the difference in acetaldehyde 

 concentrations in the blood before and after the perfusion it is possible to calculate the 

 amount of acetaldehyde passing into the perfusion blood per minute. If any substantial 

 quantity of acetaldehyde is formed during normal metabolism, a difference should be 

 seen between the perfusion experiments made with normal animals and with Antabuse- 

 treated animals. As seen in Table II this is not the case. At times the acetaldehyde 

 References p. 334. 



