After alcohol ingestion, ethanol is oxidized to acetalAcetaldehyde, the first product of alcohol metabolism, is highly reactive. Several proteins have been shown to dehyde in the liver mainly by the action of alcohol dehybe covalently modified by acetaldehyde in vivo. We have drogenase 1 and, on prolonged alcohol consumption, by previously reported the detection of a cytosolic 37-kd microsomal cytochrome P450IIE1. 2 Little acetaldehyde protein-acetaldehyde adduct (-AA) in the liver of alcohol-accumulates during alcohol oxidation because this infed rats. The liver extract from an alcohol-fed rat was termediate is rapidly converted to acetate by aldehyde subjected to 2-dimensional (2D) sodium dodecylsulfate dehydrogenase. Nevertheless, acetaldehyde is highly (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), trans-reactive. For many years, investigators have shown ferred to polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane, that acetaldehyde can covalently modify proteins in and the 37-kd protein-AA spot was digested with trypsin vitro to form protein-acetaldehyde adducts (-AAs). 3 The and sequenced for amino acids. Degenerate oligonucleoformation of protein-AAs in vivo has been demontides corresponding to a peptide sequence of the proteinstrated more recently. 4-9 Our laboratory was the first AA were used as the probe to screen a lgt11 rat liver to report the detection of a liver protein-AA (apparent complementary DNA (cDNA) library. A clone that extended to a potential ATG start codon was identified. MW, 37,000) by Western immunoblot in rats fed alcohol The open reading frame was 978 nucleotides long, encod-chronically. 4 The 37-kd liver protein-AA can be deing 326 amino acid residues. The sequence matched that tected in rats within 1 week of alcohol feeding (either of rat liver D 4 -3-ketosteroid 5b-reductase. The cloned the high-fat Lieber-DeCarli or the low-fat AIN'76 liquid cDNA was expressed in Escherichia coli using pGEX-KG diet containing alcohol [Bio-Serv, Inc., Frenchtown, as the vector. The expressed protein was found to be of NJ]). 10 The bond between the 37-kd protein and acetalcorrect molecular weight. It reacted with an antibody dehyde was very stable, and its stability was not enthat recognized the unmodified liver 37-kd protein by hanced by incubating with cyanoborohydride as a reWestern blotting. Peptide profiles of tryptic-digested re-ducing agent. 4 Adding pyrazole (an inhibitor of alcohol combinant protein and the purified rat liver 37-kd pro-dehydrogenase) 11,12 to the alcohol-containing diet abro- dehydrogenase) 14 raised plasma acetaldehyde concentrations more than sixfold and greatly increased the intensity of the 37-kd protein-AA band on immunoblots. 13 These experiments therefore provide strong Abbreviations: AA, acetaldehyde adduct; KLH, keyhole limpet hemocyanin; evidence that the 37-kd band detected by immunoblot-SDS-PAGE, sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; 2D, ting is truly a protein adduct of acetaldehyde. On subtwo-dimensional; Ig, immunoglobulin; PVDF, polyvinylid...