Skip Navigation



Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on July 19, 2006
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl048
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
41/5/534    most recent
agl048v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by KULAGA, V.
Right arrow Articles by KOREN, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by KULAGA, V.
Right arrow Articles by KOREN, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Medical Council on Alcohol. All rights reserved
Received September 30, 2005
Revised May 17, 2005
Accepted May 18, 2006

Article

FATTY ACID ETHYL ESTERS (FAEE); COMPARATIVE ACCUMULATION IN HUMAN AND GUINEA PIG HAIR AS A BIOMARKER FOR PRENATAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE

VIVIAN KULAGA 1, DANIELA CAPRARA 1, UMAR IQBAL 2, BHUSHAN KAPUR 1, JULIA KLEIN 1, JAMES REYNOLDS 2, JAMES BRIEN 2, and GIDEON KOREN 1 *

1 Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada M5G 1X8
2 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada K7L 3N6

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
GIDEON KOREN, E-mail: gkoren{at}sickkids.ca


  Abstract

Aims: To compare the incorporation rate (ICR) of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) in hair between guinea pigs and humans, and to assess the relationship between ethanol exposure and FAEE concentrations in hair. Methods: Published data from pregnant guinea pigs, including maximum blood ethanol concentration (BEC), dosage regimen, and total hair FAEE concentration, were compared with published data from alcoholic patients, where dose of ethanol consumed and total hair FAEE concentration were reported. Mean values of ethanol Vmax for pregnant guinea pigs and humans were obtained from published data (26.2 and 24 mg/dl/h, respectively). Results: Total and individual FAEE ICRs, defined as the ratio of hair FAEE to the area under the BEC-time curve (total systemic ethanol exposure), were found to be on average an order of magnitude lower in the guinea pig than in the human. The profiles of ester incorporation also differed slightly between species, with ethyl stearate being highly incorporated in guinea pig hair and less so in human hair. The results may reflect in the human greater FAEE production, greater FAEE deposition in hair, slower FAEE catabolism, differential sebum production and composition, or a combination thereof. Also, ethyl oleate was found to correlate with total systemic ethanol exposure for both guinea pigs and humans, correlation coefficients equalling 0.67 (P < 0.05) and 0.49 (P < 0.05), respectively. No other ethyl esters, nor total FAEE, were found to correlate with systemic ethanol exposure. Conclusion: When extrapolating FAEE concentrations in hair from guinea pigs to humans, an order of magnitude difference should be considered, with humans incorporating more FAEE per unit of ethanol exposure. Also, the results suggest caution should be taken when interpreting values of single esters because of their differential incorporation among species. Lastly, our findings suggest ethyl oleate may be of keen interest in FAEE hair analysis, particularly across species.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Alcohol AlcoholHome page
V. Kulaga, Y. Velazquez-Armenta, K. Aleksa, Z. Vergee, and G. Koren
The Effect of Hair Pigment on the Incorporation of Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters (FAEE)
Alcohol Alcohol., May 1, 2009; 44(3): 287 - 292.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.