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Metabolic alterations produced in the liver by chronic ethanol administration. Increased oxidative capacity.

ABSTRACT: 1. Administration of ethanol (14g/day per kg) for 21-26 days to rats increases the ability of the animals to metabolize ethanol, without concomitant changes in the activities of liver alcohol dehydrogenase or catalase. 2. Liver slices from rats chronically treated with ethanol showed a significant increase (40-60%) in the rate of O(2) consumption over that of slices from control animals. The effect of uncoupling agents such as dinitrophenol and arsenate was completely lost after chronic treatment with ethanol. 3. Isolated mitochondria prepared from animals chronically treated with ethanol showed no changes in state 3 or state 4 respiration, ADP/O ratio, respiratory control ratio or in the dinitrophenol effect when succinate was used as substrate. With beta-hydroxybutyrate as substrate a small but statistically significant decrease was found in the ADP/O ratio but not in the other parameters or in the dinitrophenol effect. Further, no changes in mitochondrial Mg(2+)-activated adenosine triphosphatase, dinitrophenol-activated adenosine triphosphatase or in the dinitrophenol-activated adenosine triphosphatase/Mg(2+)-activated adenosine triphosphatase ratio were found as a result of the chronic ethanol treatment. 4. Liver microsomal NADPH oxidase activity, a H(2)O(2)-producing system, was increased by 80-100% by chronic ethanol treatment. Oxidation of formate to CO(2)in vivo was also increased in these animals. The increase in formate metabolism could theoretically be accounted for by an increased production of H(2)O(2) by the NADPH oxidase system plus formate peroxidation by catalase. However, an increased production of H(2)O(2) and oxidation of ethanol by the catalase system could not account for more than 10-20% of the increased ethanol metabolism in the animals chronically treated with ethanol. 5. Results presented indicate that chronic ethanol ingestion results in a faster mitochondrial O(2) consumption in situ suggesting a faster NADH reoxidation. Although only a minor change in mitochondrial coupling was observed with isolated mitochondria, the possibility of an uncoupling in the intact cell cannot be completely discarded. Regardless of the mechanism, these changes could lead to an increased metabolism of ethanol and of other endogenous substrates.

SUBMITTER: Videla L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1177837 | biostudies-other | 1973 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:1. For a period of 31 days male rats were given a liquid diet containing 36% of its energy as ethanol. Liver mitochondria from these animals demonstrated lowered respiratory control with succinate as substrate, a diminished energy-linked anilinonaphthalene-sulphonic acid fluorescence response, and lowered endogenous ATP concentrations. The phospholipid/protein ratio in mitochondria from these animals was unchanged; only minor alterations in the phospholipid fatty acid composition were observed. 2. In experiments where mitochondria were incubated at 18 degrees C in iso-osmotic sucrose (aging experiments), the above energy-linked properties were lost at an earlier time in organelles from ethanol-fed animals. Phospholipase A2 acitivty was depressed in mitochondria from control animals until respiratory control was lost and ATP was depleted. In contrast, no lag in the expression of phospholipase activity was observed in mitochondria from ethanol-fed rats. This loss of control of the phospholipase resulted in an earlier degradation of membrane phospholipids under the conditions of the aging experiments. 3. The ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) activities, measured in freshly prepared tightly coupled mitochondria and in organelles uncoupled with carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone, were not significantly different in ethanol-fed and liquid-diet control animals. When the mitochondria were aged at 18 degrees C, the activity increased with time of incubation in organelles from both groups of animals. A lag was observed, however, as the ATPase activity increased in control preparations. This lag was not present as APTase activity increased in mitochondria from ethanol-fed animals. 4. The significantly lowered values observed for energy-linked functions with succinate as an energy source demonstrate that ethanol elicits an alteration in liver mitochondria that affects the site II-site III regions of the oxidative-phosphorylation system. The apparent lack of control of the phospholipase A2 and ATPase activities in mitochondria from ethanol-fed animals suggests that the membrane microenvironment of these enzymes has been altered such that they can exert their catabolic effects more readily under conditions of mild perturbation. The fatty acid analyses demonstrate that the observed alterations both in the energy-linked functions and in control of the phospholipase and ATPase are not mediated through changes in the acyl chain composition of bulk-phase phospholipids.

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Metabolic alterations produced in the liver by chronic ethanol administration. Increased oxidative capacity.

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