[Diagnostic tests of alcohol consumption]

Abstract

Alcoholism is one of the most frequent dependences. In the cases of excessive alcohol consumption laboratory tests become abnormal and, therefore, may have ability to detect alcohol-dependent subjects. We present the biological markers for recent alcohol intake such as ethanol, methanol and 5-hydroxytryptophol and the most obvious and specific tests for chronic alcohol consumption including gamma-glutamyltransferase, aspartate and alanine aminotransferase, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, macrocytosis, beta-hexosaminidase and erythrocytic aldehyde dehydrogenase.