Björntorp P, Depergola G, Sjöberg C, Pettersson P, Hallgren P, Boström K, Helander K G, Seidell J
Department of Medicine I, Sahlgren's Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden.
J Intern Med. 1990 Dec;228(6):557-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.1990.tb00279.x.
Ethyl esters of fatty acids (EEFA) have been found to be formed during ethanol metabolism. Human adipose tissue contains high concentrations of free fatty acids, the substrate for EEFA synthesis, and might therefore be a tissue with great potential for EEFA formation. In order to explore their potential usefulness as markers of alcohol abuse, the EEFA concentration and the activity of EEFA-synthesizing enzyme were therefore determined in adipose tissue from men belonging to the following categories: teetotalers, social drinkers, alcoholics under treatment, or established alcoholics found to have died as a result of alcohol intoxication. In order to estimate the half-life of EEFA and the synthase activity induction, the alcoholics were examined after different time periods of abstinence from alcohol. Comparisons were also made with several established markers of alcohol abuse. EEFA were not found in teetotalers, and were found in low concentrations in some of the social drinkers. EEFA were found in several alcoholics, and the forensic cases had high concentrations. EEFA-synthesizing enzyme activity was found in all subjects, increasing from teetotalers to social drinkers, and being 2-fold higher in alcoholics and 5-fold higher in dead alcoholics. The induction of the enzyme after abstinence appeared to have a half-life of the order of several weeks. Correlations were found between EEFA synthase activity and previously established markers of alcohol abuse known to remain for a long time period after abstinence, such as mean erythrocyte corpuscular volume. This preliminary study suggests the possibility that EEFA synthase induction in adipose tissue might have a longer half-life than previously used markers of alcohol abuse. It is therefore suggested that the induction of EEFA synthase might be a potentially useful new marker for alcohol abuse because of its apparent proportionality to alcohol intake over a prolonged time period, its presumed specificity, and long-term elevation after alcohol abstinence. This potential marker should be analysed further.
脂肪酸乙酯（EEFA）已被发现在乙醇代谢过程中形成。人体脂肪组织含有高浓度的游离脂肪酸，这是EEFA合成的底物，因此可能是一个具有很大EEFA形成潜力的组织。为了探索它们作为酒精滥用标志物的潜在用途，因此测定了以下几类男性脂肪组织中的EEFA浓度和EEFA合成酶的活性：戒酒者、社交饮酒者、正在接受治疗的酗酒者或因酒精中毒死亡的确诊酗酒者。为了估计EEFA的半衰期和合成酶活性诱导情况，在酗酒者戒酒不同时间段后对其进行检查。还与几种已确立的酒精滥用标志物进行了比较。在戒酒者中未发现EEFA，在一些社交饮酒者中发现其浓度较低。在一些酗酒者中发现了EEFA，法医案例中的浓度较高。在所有受试者中均发现了EEFA合成酶活性，从戒酒者到社交饮酒者逐渐增加，在酗酒者中高出2倍，在死亡酗酒者中高出5倍。戒酒酶诱导的半衰期似乎为几周左右。发现EEFA合成酶活性与先前确立的酒精滥用标志物之间存在相关性，这些标志物在戒酒很长一段时间后仍会存在，如平均红细胞体积。这项初步研究表明，脂肪组织中EEFA合成酶诱导的半衰期可能比先前使用的酒精滥用标志物更长。因此，有人提出，EEFA合成酶的诱导可能是一种潜在有用的酒精滥用新标志物，因为它在较长时间内与酒精摄入量明显成比例，具有假定的特异性，并且在戒酒后会长期升高。这个潜在的标志物应该进一步分析。
