What is the proposed mechanism for false positive enzymatic ethanol assay results?
Enyzmatic ethanol assays measure the production of NADH from NAD+ which is formed at the same molar per molar ratio of ethanol to acetylaldehyde. Lactate is metabolized to pyruvate with the same molar per molar NADH to NAD+ by LDH. Thus, profound elevations of Lactate and LDH can result in falsely elevated enzymatic ethanol assays.
Lefrère B, Wohrer D, Godefroy C, Soichot M, Mihoubi A, Nivet-Antoine V, Oualha M, Houzé P. False-Positive Ethanol Level in Urine and Plasma Samples of a Resuscitated Infant. J Anal Toxicol. 2020 Dec 5:bkaa188. doi: 10.1093/jat/bkaa188. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33277902.
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