Establishment of a BALB/c Mouse Model for Assessing the Degree of Inebriation Induced by Luzhou-Flavor Liquors

• Published in: Journal of AOAC International 2017-09, Vol.100 (5), p.1582-1584
• Main Author: Zhang, Meng-Yan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcoholic Intoxication - diagnosis; Alcoholic Intoxication - physiopathology; Alcoholism; Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Ethanol - blood; Health aspects; Liquor; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Physiological aspects; Reflex
• ISSN: 1060-3271; 1944-7922
• DOI: 10.5740/jaoacint.17-0071

This investigation was carried out to determine the differences in the degree of inebriation induced by Luzhou-flavor liquors having the same ethanol content. A BALB/c mouse model was used to test the effects of two liquors on the loss of the righting reflex (LORR) and the duration (DUR) of the LORR, as indices of the degree of inebriation. The blood ethanol concentration, blood acetaldehyde concentration, acetylcholinesterase activity in the hippocampus, and concentrations of dopamine and serotonin in the striatum were also determined. The degrees of inebriation induced by the two liquors were 0.694 and 0.404, as quantified by LORR and LORR DUR. The liquor that induced the lower degree of inebriation also induced lower blood ethanol and blood acetaldehyde concentrations. Moreover, it had no significant effects on acetylcholinesterase activity in the hippocampus or on the concentrations of dopamine or serotonin in the striatum. Chinese liquors with the same ethanol content can be distinguished by the degree of inebriation they induce. A relationship was found between the internal composition of the liquor and the degree of inebriation it induced. Our data support choosing liquors with low degrees of inebriation to reduce their harmful effects.