Biochemical markers of ethanol effects on brain

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Abstract
Because sialic acid is a potential biochemical marker of membrane development or alteration, we compared acute and chronic ethanol effects on sialic acid. Experiments were conducted with 50 adult male Wistar rats (∽400 gm), housed in groups of five. Rats drank ad libitum a vitamin-fortified diet (Nutrament) that was adulterated with ethanol; ethanol intake averaged for each rat 10–18 gm/kg/day. Controls were fed an equal total volume, made isocaloric with sucrose. Rats were sacrificed weekly for four weeks, and an acute challenge dose of ethanol (2 gm/kg, intraperitoneally) was given 45 minutes before sacrifice of both control and ethanol-consuming rats. Some controls were challenged only with saline. We replicated our earlier findings of regional differences in sialic acid and in cerebellar deoxyribose (measured as a necessary adjunct in the autoanalyzer modification of the Warren-Delmotte methods). In the saline-challenged controls, levels of both compounds were higher at four weeks than after one week. Similar increases occurred also in the chronic ethanol-consuming group, but not in the ethanol-challenged controls, which had significantly lower values. Results in saline-challenged controls suggest that the chronic treatment either 1) created a tolerance which protected cells from damage by the challenge dose of ethanol, or 2) killed neurons, thus promoting proliferation of glial cells.