| Summary: | Acetaldehyde, the first metabolite of ethanol, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease. In order to investigate a possible immunologic mechanism whereby acetaldehyde might exert its toxic effect acetaldehyde protein conjuates were prepared and characterized. This study demonstrates that acetaldehyde conjugated albumin can be an immunogen, can form a more negatively charged, more acidic, heterogeneous conjugate than albumin and can elicitate a specific rabbit antibody. ELISA can be used to assay antibodies produced in response to acetaldehyde albumin conjugates suggesting that chronic alcohol ingestion can lead the generation of antibodies against acetaldehyde conjugated human serum albumin. The significance of this study is that it possibly can provide a method to investigate the mechanism responsible for the sequelae of alcoholism.
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