The capacity of macrophages from different murine tissues to metabolise ethanol and generate an ethanol-dependent non-dialysable cytotoxic activity in vitro.

Tissue macrophages obtained from liver, bone marrow, spleen and thymus of C57 BL/6 mice closely resembled blood-monocyte-derived human macrophages in three characteristics. These were: the rate of metabolism of ethanol to acetate, the biochemical pathways involved in ethanol metabolism and the ability to generate an ethanol-dependent non-dialysable cytotoxic activity in vitro. The metabolism of ethanol by all four types of murine tissue macrophage was only slightly suppressed by pyrazole, 4-iodopyrazole and 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole, which are known to inhibit alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), pi ADH and catalase respectively. By contrast, ethanol metabolism by these cells was strongly suppressed by three inhibitors of the cytochrome P-450-dependent microsomal ethanol-oxidising system--namely, carbon monoxide, metyrapone and tetrahydrofurane.