“A new study, using assays that are highly sensitive for endogenous atRA, has reported that ethanol toxicity in mice actually increased atRA concentration in certain tissues, including brain hippocampus, apparently due to a mobilization of hepatic retinyl esters that led to increased retinol and atRA in specific tissues.”
“However, previous work, using very high exogenous doses of retinol, found that ethanol toxicity led to decreased formation of atRA , apparently due to competitive inhibition of alcohol dehydrogenase, which is purportedly involved in the conversion of retinol to retinal.”