Altered metabolism of acetaldehyde in blood is not a specific marker of diabetic macroangiopathy.

Previous studies have demonstrated altered acetaldehyde metabolism in diabetics with macroangiopathy. Elimination of acetaldehyde in blood homogenates was studied in 20 non-diabetic survivors of myocardial infarction and 22 healthy controls. The half-life of acetaldehyde was shorter in patients, than in controls (mean values 83 and 150 minutes, respectively, p less than 0.001). Thus, the presence of diabetes is not a prerequisite for altered acetaldehyde metabolism in angiopathy patients. Elimination of acetaldehyde proved to be an enzymatic process, as the elimination was virtually abolished in the presence of chloral hydrate, an inhibitor of aldehyde dehydrogenase. In a previous study, however, results of a more specific assay of aldehyde dehydrogenase showed no correlation to the half-life of acetaldehyde. A possible explanation of the rapid acetaldehyde elimination in angiopathy patients is a low capacity of blood proteins for acetaldehyde binding.