Abstract
The pathway of ethanol metabolism via acetaldehyde and acetyl coenzyme A is well documented (1). However, considerable effort has been made to answer the question as to whether or not this is the only pathway of ethanol metabolism in the mammal.
Bloom and Westerfeld (2) and Bloom et al. (3) demonstrated 5-hydroxy-4-ketohexanoic acid (HKH) as a metabolite of ethanol and acetaldehyde in various rat tissue homogenates. They reported that HKH is formed but not degraded by rat tissue homogenates. If HKH-5-14C (formed from ethanol-1-14C) were oxidatively metabolized, acetyl-1-14C coenzyme A would be a logical intermediate.
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