Enzymatic determination of blood ethanol, with amperometric measurement of rate of oxygen depletion.

A rapid electrochemical measurement of blood ethanol is proposed. Alcohol is oxidized by NAD+ in the presence of alcohol dehydrogenase; and the NADH produced is aerobically oxidized by horseradish peroxidase. The rate of depletion of buffer-carried oxygen, which is directly proportional to the alcohol concentration in the sample, is amperometrically monitored with a membrane oxygen-sensing electrode. Only a 5-microliter sample of whole blood is required, with no deproteinization, incubation, extraction, or dilution. Results, obtained in less than 1 min, correlate well with those obtained by gas-chromatographic and spectrophotometric methods.