In the liver mitochondrial fraction of the first generation offspring of alcoholized male rats, decreased activities of monoamine oxidase (MAO) types A and B, rotenone-insensitive NADH-cytochrome c-reductase and succinate dehydrogenase were observed. The MAO-dependent inhibition of rotenone-insensitive NADH-cytochrome c-reductase and succinate dehydrogenase by biogenic amines, incubated with the mitochondrial fraction, was altered in the offspring of alcoholized animals as compared with control rats. The sensitivity of these enzymatic activities towards the inhibitory effect of 5-methoxyindol-3-ylacetaldehyde was markedly increased in the offspring of alcoholized male rats. The data obtained suggest the existence of a genetically determined predisposition of the mitochondrial metabolic processes in the offspring of the alcoholized rats to the effects of ethanol and to the toxic effects of acetaldehyde, formed during ethanol metabolism.