METHODS

Nine males and one female with no known hepatic or metabolic disorder were examined (Table I). They were fasted for 12 hours and premedicated with 200 mg of phenobarbitone. A Cournand catheter was placed in one of the right hepatic veins and a polythene catheter inthe femoral artery. Blood was drawn simultaneously from the two catheters into heparinized syringes. The experiments comprised a control and an ethanol period, each lasting about 30 minutes. Twenty minutes before the control period a priming dose of 150 mg of sulfobromophthalein (BSP) was given, and an infusion of BSP was started (at an average rate of 4.7 mg per minute). During the control period 4 to 6 samples were taken from both catheters for the determination of BSP and 2 to 3 for the determination of acetate; in some cases 2 to 3 samples were taken for glu-cose, ketones, and lactate; in the middle of the period, 02 saturation, 02 tension, pH, and CO2 tension were determined in one sample. The ethanol period was started with a single injection of 70 mmoles of ethanol, except in Subject 2 in whom the injection causedvenospasm. Simultaneously, a constant infusion of 2.7 mmoles per minute of ethanol was started andcontinued for the rest of the experiment. During this period BSP and ethanol were determined in 5 to 8 samples; acetate and, in some cases, ketones, glucose, and lactate were determined in 4 to 6 samples; and 0, saturation, 02 tension, pH, and CO2 tension in one sample in the middle of the period.