Phosphatidylethanol formation in rat organs after ethanol treatment.

An abnormal acidic phospholipid was found in high concentration in kidney and brain, and also in other organs of rats exposed to ethanol by i.p. injection or by a liquid diet. The compound could be identified as phosphatidylethanol. Phosphatidylethanol is probably formed in cell membranes by a phospholipase D-catalyzed transphosphatidylation reaction.