[Interaction between alcohol and drugs (author's transl)].

The interaction of ethanol with drugs becomes more and more important because of a constant increase of the consumption of both. While most of the commonly used drugs do not alter the elimination of alcohol there exist a number of drugs which influence the degradation of ethanol by inhibition of the acetaldehyddehydrogenase. In combination with alcohol these drugs lead to an antabus-like reaction. In respect to the influence of ethanol on the metabolic degradation of drugs it must be destinguished between acute and chronic effects of alcohol. Upon acute influence of ethanol we observe an increased efficiency of many drugs. Chronical influence of ethanol on the other hand leads to a reduced action of drugs by enzyme inhibition. Besides the interaction on the level of biotransformation the interaction on the receptor-level is important. This mechanism especially leads to an increased efficiency of drugs which influence the central-nervous system.