Alcohol dehydrogenase: a new sensitive marker of hepatic centrilobular damage.

To determine whether serum alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity reflects hepatic damage of centrilobular region (zone 3), the rats were given either bromobenzene (BB) or allyl alcohol (AA) IP to produce the pericen tral or periportal necrosis respectively. After AA or BB serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity showed no significant difference between the two groups. By contrast, serum ADH and glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) activities were elevated preferentially in the BB treated rats. However, AA administration to rats also resulted in a significant increase in GLDH activity, whereas ADH activity was only slightly elevated when compared to controls. Moreover, acute ethanol administration to rats resulted in a significant elevation of the serum ADH activity, whereas serum GLDH and ALT activities remained normal. These data suggest that serum ADH activity appears to be a sensitive and specific marker of hepatic centrilobular damage.