Inhibition of formate and formaldehyde oxidation by ethanol as an index for estimating alcohol concentration in isolated tissues.

The presence of enzymes, possibly tetrahydrofolate, involved in the oxidation of both formaldehyde and formate in human or rat RBC and rat livers, but not in rat brains, has been demonstrated. The inhibition of oxidation of either /sup 14/C-formate or /sup 14/C- formaldehyde to /sup 14/CO/sub 2/ by various concentrations of ethanol in rat livers may be considered as an index for estimating alcohol concentrations in human isolated tissues without radiation danger. Immediate and accurate results obtained demonstrated also that this in vitro ionization chamber method with /sup 14/C-labeled formate or formaldehyde would surpass spectrophotometric procedures because of its rapidity and reliability. (auth)