Role of tetrahydroisoquinoline on production of alcohol dependence

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Urinary excretion of tetrahydroisoquinoline in 30 male alcoholic patients during the withdrawal period was determined. They were divided into two groups, i.e., Group A with 14 subjects had a high level of urinary tetrahydroisoquinoline (51.9 40.8 ng/mg creatinine) on admission to a hospital, and group B with 16 subjects showed a low level of the substance (3.9 1.9 ng/mg creatinine). Following a sustained drinking bout, urinary tetrahydroisoquinoline in Group A declined to a normal level within a few days. We found that the subjects in Group A showed a greater excretion of urinary dopamine and norepinephrine than those in Group B. There were no differences between the two groups in levels of blood ethanol, serum GOT, GPT and r-GTP.Healthy Japanese male volunteers were divided into two groups, i.e., a normal aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) group of 13 subjects with a low Km isozyme of ALDH and a deficient group of 12 subjects. The subjects were given 0.4 or 0.8 g/kg of ethanol. Blood ethanol and acetaldehyde levels, urinary excretion of tetrahydroisoquinoline were determined. A sigificant elevation of thtrahydroisoquinoline in urine was found after intake of 0,8 g/kg of ethanol in the two groups, but the increase in the deficient group was greater than that in the normal group, while 0.4 g/kg of ethanol did not affect the excretion of terahydroisoquinoline in either group. Blood acetaldehyde was highly correlated with urinary tetrahydroisoquinoline (r=0.88, p<0.001) and the correlation coefficient was greater than that between blood ethanol and tetrahydroisoquinoline.