Table 1.

Biomarkers of Maternal Drinking

Level of Exposure Indicated by Biomarker	Type of Biomarker	Examples
Internal dose	Alcohol concentration	Blood alcohol concentration
Biologically effective dose	Metabolites of alcohol	Acetaldehyde
		Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs)
		Ethyl glucuronide
		Cocaethylene
Early biological effects	Enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism	Cytochrome P450 2E1
		Catalase
		FAEE synthase
	Products of the interaction of alcohol metabolites and cellular components	Acetaldehyde-protein adducts
		Oxidation products
		5-hydroxytryptophol/5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5–HTOL/5–HIAA)
Altered structure/function	Alteration of target protein	Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin
		Serum proteins
		Urinary dolichols
		Sialic acid
	Early indication of target organ damage	Gamma glutamyltransferase
		Aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase
		Mean corpuscular volume
		β-hexosaminidase