Ethanol and acetaldehyde do not increase the blood-brain and blood-retinal barrier permeability to sodium fluorescein.

No extravasation of sodium fluorescein from capillaries of the cerebral cortex and retina could be demonstrated in rats during severe nonlethal ethanol and/or acetaldehyde poisoning. The results do not exclude the possibility that repeated intoxications may gradually open the blood-brain and blood-retinal barriers, but do indicate the absence of an effect during acute intoxication.