Evidence that catalase is a major pathway of ethanol oxidation in vivo: dose-response studies in deer mice using methanol as a selective substrate.

Recently, it was demonstrated that 4-methylpyrazole was not only an inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase but also caused competitive inhibition of fatty acyl-CoA synthetase, the enzyme which activates fatty acids (B. U. Bradford, D. T. Forman, and R. G. Thurman, 1993, Mol. Pharmacol. 43, 115-119). Rates of catalase-dependent alcohol metabolism were decreased in alcohol dehydrogenase-negative (ADH-) deer mice because the H2O2 supply for catalase via peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation was inhibited due to substrate limitation. In light of these findings it became necessary to reevaluate the role of catalase and alcohol dehydrogenase in alcohol metabolism. In this study, methanol, a selective substrate for catalase in rodents, was compared with ethanol. Rates of ethanol and methanol metabolism were studied in vivo at blood alcohol levels ranging from 50 to 500 mg/dl. In the ADH- deer mouse, rates of methanol and ethanol metabolism increased when alcohol was elevated from 0 to 100 mg/dl and were maximal at values around 6-8 mmol/kg/h (half-maximal rates were observed at blood alcohol levels around 50 mg/dl). In the ADH+ deer mouse, rates of ethanol metabolism increased to values around 9 mmol/kg/h at 100 mg/dl and remained constant at blood levels up to 500 mg/dl. In contrast, rates of methanol metabolism increased to values of only 5 mmol/kg/h at levels of 100 mg/dl (the half-maximal rate was about 2.5 mmol/kg/h at 50 mg/dl) followed by a steady increase to 9 mmol/kg/h as the blood level was increased from 100 to 500 mg/dl (the half-maximal rate for this second component was around 6 mmol/kg/h at 300 mg/dl). Rates of methanol uptake were 50 +/- 4 nmol/min/mg protein in 10,000g pellets from ADH- deer mouse livers; however, methanol was not metabolized by isolated microsomes. The catalase inhibitor aminotriazole decreased ethanol and methanol metabolism 75% in ADH- deer mice. Further, olive oil, which is rich in oleate, increased methanol metabolism from 7 to 11.5 mmol/kg/h. This stimulation was blocked by fructose, which diminishes ATP and decreases H2O2 supply. In the ADH+ deer mouse, fructose (2 g/kg) stimulated ethanol metabolism as expected; however, inhibition of both ethanol and methanol metabolism was observed with higher doses of fructose (10 g/kg). Taken together, these data support the hypothesis that catalase is the predominant pathway for alcohol metabolism in the ADH- deer mouse. The contribution of catalase was about 50% in the ADH+ mutant at low doses of ethanol and approached 100% as the alcohol concentration was elevated.