Protein Synthesis in Bone and Skin of the Rat Are Inhibited by Ethanol: Implications for Whole Body Metabolism

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Abstract
The acute effects of ethanol (75 mmol/kg body weight, intraperitoneal) on rates of protein synthesis in bone (tibia) and skin of young (approximately 100 g body weight) laboratory rats was investigated. Plasma ethanol levels were raised to approximately 40 mmol/liter. At 2.5 hr, rates of protein synthesis were measured with a flooding dose of L-[4-3H]phenylalanine. In bone the protein-bound specific radioactivities, fractional synthesis rates, and synthesis rates relative to RNA and DNA were significantly reduced by approximately 30%. In skin these variables similarly decreased in response to ethanol treatment, by approximately 25%. The reduction in absolute rates of protein synthesis in bone (.DELTA., 0.7 g protein/day/kg body weight) and skin (.DELTA., 3.4 g protein/day/kg body weight) were comparable to the reductions in liver and skeletal muscle in response to acute ethanol. As bone and skin contribute to a quarter of whole body protein synthesis, it was concluded that these observations may have important implications for whole body protein homeostasis.