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Estrogen is involved in early alcohol‐induced liver injury in a rat enteral feeding model
Author(s) -
Yin Ming,
Ikejima Kenichi,
Wheeler Michael D.,
Bradford Blair U.,
Seabra Vitor,
Forman Donald T.,
Sato Nobuhiro,
Thurman Ronald G.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.510310119
Subject(s) - enteral administration , estrogen , medicine , liver injury , alcohol , endocrinology , biology , parenteral nutrition , biochemistry
Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate whether reduction in blood estrogen by removal of the ovaries would decrease the sensitivity of female rats to early alcohol‐induced liver injury using an enteral ethanol feeding model, and if so, whether estrogen replacement would compensate. Livers from ovariectomized rats with or without estrogen replacement after 4 weeks of continuous ethanol exposure were compared with nonovariectomized rats in the presence or absence of ethanol. Ethanol increased serum alanine transaminase (ALT) levels from 30 ± 6 to 64 ± 7 U/L. This effect was blocked by ovariectomy (31 ± 7) and totally reversed by estrogen replacement (110 ± 23). Ethanol increased liver weight and fat accumulation, an effect that was minimized by ovariectomy and reversed partially by estrogen replacement. Infiltrating leukocytes were increased 6.7‐fold by ethanol, an effect that was blunted significantly by ovariectomy and reversed by estrogen replacement. Likewise, a similar pattern of changes was observed in the number of necrotic hepatocytes. Blood endotoxin and hepatic levels of CD14 messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein were increased by ethanol. This effect was blocked in ovariectomized rats and elevated by estrogen replacement. Moreover, Kupffer cells isolated from ethanol‐treated rats with estrogen replacement produced more tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) than those from control and ovariectomized rats. It is concluded, therefore, that the sensitivity of rat liver to alcohol‐induced injury is directly related to estrogen, which increases endotoxin in the blood and CD14 expression in the liver, leading to increased TNF‐α production.