Human stomach alcohol dehydrogenase: isoenzyme composition and catalytic properties.

Two isoenzymes of alcohol dehydrogenase have been purified from human stomach and characterized with regard to electrophoretic mobility and kinetic properties with ethanol, hexanol, and acetaldehyde. Both undergo a time-dependent formation of multiple electrophoretic bands; the total amount of alcohol dehydrogenase activity in an average human stomach is only about 0.2% of that of the liver.