Effects of ethanol and acetaldehyde on phagocytic functions

Although a number of skin diseases are characterized by the presence of an increased number of phagocytes in their lesions, the effects of alcohol on phagocytic functions are not clearly understood. Therefore, we measured the influence of ethanol and acetaldehyde on the generation of oxygen radicals, chemotaxis and the release of lysosomal enzymes from human phagocytes. We added 0.03%-3% ethanol and 0.005%-0.25% acetaldehyde to cell cultures. We found that both ethanol and acetaldehyde suppressed the generation of oxygen radicals from granulocytes and monocytes; the ID50 was achieved at concentrations of approximately 0.25% for ethanol and 0.03% for acetaldehyde. A significant inhibition of…