ABSTRACT
Alcohol is the most frequently used mind-altering drug except for caffeine. Half of Americans, aged 12 years and older, use alcohol on a regular basis and approximately 10% of these Americans are regarded to be alcoholics [1]. More pertinent to the heart, chronic alcohol abuse has been found to be the chief source of secondary cardiomyopathy (termed alcoholic cardiomyopathy or alcohol-induced heart muscle disease) in the Western world [2,3]. Furthermore, patients with alcohol-induced heart muscle disease who continue in chronic alcohol abuse have 50% mortality rates [4]. Despite, the severity and prevalence of alcohol’s role in cardiotoxicity, research was previously hindered due to a lack of knowledge of any existing biochemical mechanisms. The most commonly known catabolic pathway for alcohol is catalyzed by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) to the toxic metabolite acetylaldehyde. Although this mechanism may partially explain liver damage associated with alcohol intake, it does not account for the presence of extrahepatic damage. Only the liver possesses this oxidative metabolic pathway to a sufficient degree [5].
