Ethanol sleep times and hepatic alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase activities in mice

The roles of hepatic alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase activities in the determination of individual differences in ethanol-induced sleep time were investigated in a genetically heterogeneous population of mice. Both dehydrogenase activities correlated signigicantly with sleep time when a 90-min interval was allowed between ethanol challenge and biochemical assay, but not when a 42-day interval was allowed. Alcohol dehydrogenase activity appears to be important in the determination of sleep time presumably because this enzyme catalyzes the rate limiting step in ethanol metabolism. Aldehyde dehydrogenase appears to be somewhat less important in the determination of sleep time than is alcohol dehydrogenase. Increases in alcohol dehydrogenase activity due to a single challenging dose of ethanol were also investigated in three inbred mouse strains. Significant increases were observed in the C57BL/6J strain, but not in the BALB/cJ and DBA/2J strains. The peak effect was observed at 90 min post-injection.