Chronic ethanol administration decreases fatty acyl‐CoA desaturase activities in rat liver microsomes

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Abstract
The Δ9‐desaturase system in liver microsome from rats treated chronically with ethanol was studied. Stearoyl‐CoA desaturase activity decreased by 80% and palmitoyl‐CoA desaturase activity was not detectable in microsomes from ethanol‐fed rats, while activities of electron transport components such as NADH‐cytochrome c and NADH‐ferricyanide reductases remained unchanged. However, chronic ethanol administration resulted in an adaptive induction of the activity of NADPH‐cytochrome c reductase and the contents of cytochrome b 5 and P‐450. The activity of the terminal component (cyanide‐sensitive factor; CSF) of the desaturase system was greatly depressed by ethanol treatment. The NADH/NAD ratio in microsomes of ethanol‐fed rats increased over 2‐fold. These results suggest that, during chronic ethanol ingestion, decreased activities of Δ9‐desaturases are due mainly to a decreased content of the terminal component of the desaturase system.

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