Category: pharmacological
Aliases: Alcohol, Ethyl alcohol, EtOH, Drinking alcohol
Two-step hepatic metabolism: alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) → acetaldehyde → aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) → acetate. ADH is saturable with Km ≈ 80 mg/L peripheral blood (≈ 0.008% BAC), so above ~100 mg/L elimination becomes near-zero-order at Vmax ≈ 230 mg/L/h (≈ 15-20 mg/dL/hr in BAC). CYP2E1 is the inducible high-Cp second pathway, prominent in chronic drinkers. Pharmacologically a positive allosteric modulator of GABA-A and NMDA antagonist at intoxicating concentrations.