Concentrations of blood and urine ethanol, acetaldehyde, acetate and acetone during experimental hangover in volunteers.

Blood and urine samples were analyzed for ethanol, acetaldehyde, acetate and acetone during experimental hangover in 6 healthy male volunteers (A, B, C, D, E, F). They drank freely for some 4 hr. In flushers (A, F) at 9 hr after ingestion (ethanol: 92 g, 1.2 g/kg and 1.3 g/kg), acetaldehyde levels were low in the blood, but high in the urine (37 microM, 45 microM). Heavy drinkers, non-flushers of B (ethanol: 176 g, 2.5 g/kg), C (157 g, 2.4 g/kg) and E (182 g, 2.9 g/kg) had a slightly high [lactate]/[pyruvate] ratio and 3-hydroxybutyrate in the blood at 11 hr after alcohol ingestion. Blood ethanol levels were dose dependent and blood acetaldehyde in B and C had a slightly high 6.3 microM and 8.0 microM 9 hr later, respectively. B, C and E had a high urine acetone concentration (100 microM over) in hangover. In C, in particular, urine acetate and acetone levels were unusually high. The ratio in blood (urine) among alcohol metabolites at 9 hr after drinking was approximately ethanol 1000 (1000): acetaldehyde 0.2-1.0 (0.1-5.9): acetate 36-163 (22-1554): acetone 1-11 (3-47).