Behavior of blood acetaldehyde in alcohol-treated rats following administration of thiurams.

Single moderate doses of Na-dimethyldithiocarbamate and Na-diethyldithiocarbamate (thiocarb), respectively, did not influence the rate of elimination of ethanol i.p. in female rats, but there was a concurrent substantial increase in the blood acetaldehyde content. Tetramethylthiuram disulfide (thiram) produced a slight decrease in the rate of elimination of ethanol, while a comparable dose of tetramethylthiuram disulfide (disulfiram) failed to affect ethanol disappearance. At the same time, the blood acetaldehyde concentration showed a considerable increase which after thiram was much more significant than after disulfiram, Identical thiuram doses caused a significant reduction in the rate of elimination of acetaldehyde i.v., which suggests an inhibition of the aldehyde dehydrogenasel aldehyde oxidase and helps to explain the elevated blood acetaldehyde concentration which was observed in the presence of ethanol. It is concluded from these findings that thiuram activity decreases as the number of carbon atoms at the side-chains of the molecule is increasing.