Comparison between the urinary alcohol markers EtG, EtS, and GTOL/5-HIAA in a controlled drinking experiment

Abstract

This study is the first controlled experiment comparing the time-courses for ethanol, EtG, EtS, and GTOL/5-HIAA in urine. In cases where surveillance of alcohol relapse is needed, measurements of urinary EtG and EtS are sensitive and specific alternatives to ethanol testing. The GTOL/5-HIAA ratio is equally sensitive but with a much shorter window of detection.

A study of ethyl glucuronide in post-mortem blood as a marker of ante-mortem ingestion of alcohol

“…There was no explanation for this, but error in the analysis could not be excluded. EtG are however quite short in blood, ~10 h, according to our results (paper I and IV) and others (134) and the problem would be more pronounced if EtG and EtS were only analyzed in urine, in which this difference might be up to several days (45,61). This shows how the analysis in blood and urine complement each other; the risk of false negatives caused by instability is highest in blood and the risk of false positives from previous ethanol ingestions is highest in urine.…”

“…Levels of EtS in blood have been reported in one other low dose experiment (134) as well as in our study of heavy drinkers (paper V). Both our studies and other studies of EtG and EtS in blood and urine indicated that levels of EtG were higher than the corresponding levels of EtS (61,155), also when corrected for different molecular weight, with molar EtG/EtS ratios reported as 1.7. Only one study in urine showed higher concentrations of EtS than EtG (161), and similar molar concentrations of EtG and EtS were seen in serum in the kinetic study by the same group (134), although the AUC was higher for EtG.…”

“…We studied levels of EtS in urine (not included in this thesis) (61). Levels of EtS in blood have been reported in one other low dose experiment (134) as well as in our study of heavy drinkers (paper V).…”

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome: mechanisms, manifestations, and management

“…The 5‐HTOL/5‐HIAA ratio increases appreciably in urine after alcohol intake and is a promising marker for recent alcohol intake with a short window of detection. Until now, it has not found its way into clinical routine because of costly detection assays 47, 48…”

EtG and EtS in Autopsy Blood Samples With and Without Putrefaction Using UPLC–MS-MS

“…A supplementary method to distinguish antemortem ethanol consumption from postmortem ethanol formation is the analysis of the ethanol metabolites ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS) (4)(5)(6)(7). These metabolites are produced by enzymatic conjugation of ethanol in living individuals (8,9). However, as EtG and EtS represent only a small fraction (i.e.…”