[Biological profile of liver damage in alcoholics (author's transl)].

It is now possible to pinpoint the biochemical processes responsible for liver damage in alcoholics and to monitor detoxication from a biological point of view. Cirrhosis of the liver is a direct consequence of chronic alcoholism in 60-80 % of cases, and most alcoholics, after several years of drinking, cannot escape the ravages of alcohol, although it is not yet known why a small proportion are not affected biochemically. Psychological deterioration can be explained biochemically, due to the neurotoxic effects of acetaldehyde, formed by alcohol but 20-30 times more toxic, which acts on catecholamines and serotonin with, inter alia, depressant, habit-forming, hallucinogenic and convulsive properties. Hepatic symptoms depend on the stage the alcholic has reached - acute, subacute or the chronic and final stage of cirrhosis of the liver, and include disturbances of transaminases, gamma-GT, serum proteins, immunoglobulins, specific proteins, lipids (including very interestingly an increase in cholesterol-HDL which needs to be investigated further) and hematic changes with FDP and thrombocytes affected, and often anaemia.