Catalase‐dependent ethanol oxidation in perfused rat liver

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to measure rates of catalase-dependent ethanol uptake and rates of H2O2 generation in perfused rat livers in the presence of fatty acids of varying chain length. Rates of ethanol uptake in livers from fasted rats, perfused in a recirculating system, of about 80 mumol g-1 h-1 were decreased to about 10 mumol g-1 h-1 by the addition of an inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), 4-methylpyrazole. The medium-chain-length fatty acid, laurate (12:0; 1 mM), increased rates of 4-methylpyrazole-insensitive ethanol uptake maximally to 80-85 mumol g-1 h-1. Rates of ethanol uptake diminished as the chain length of fatty acid was decreased [hexanoate (6:0) = 23 mumol g-1 h-1; octanoate (8:0) = 55 mumol g-1 h-1; decanoate (10:0) = 65 mumol g-1 h-1] or increased [myristate (14:0) = 77 mumol g-1 h-1; palmitate (16:0) = 80 mumol g-1 h-1; stearate (18:0) = 29 mumol g-1 h-1; oleate (18:1) = 60 mumol g-1 h-1; erucate (22:3) = 22 mumol g-1 h-1] from 12:0. Oleate did not increase rates of hydroxylation of p-nitrophenol, a substrate for the ethanol-inducible form of cytochrome P-450, indicating that the stimulation of ethanol uptake by fatty acids was not due to increased mixed-function oxidation. The increase of ethanol uptake was also not due to displacement of 4-methylpyrazole from ADH by fatty acids, since oleate stimulated ethanol uptake by about 50% in perfused livers from deermice genetically deficient in ADH. The increase in 4-methylpyrazole-insensitive ethanol uptake by fatty acids was blocked by the catalase inhibitor, aminotriazole, indicating the involvement of catalase. Rates of H2O2 generation by livers perfused in a non-recirculating system with 1.7% albumin were increased from 6 +/- 1 to 23 +/- 5 mumol g-1 h-1 by oleate (1 mM). Because of the discrepancy between rates of ethanol metabolism and H2O2 production, methods were developed to measure H2O2 production in a recirculating perfusion system. H2O2 generation was determined from the time necessary for steady-state level of catalase-H2O2, measured spectrophotometrically (660-640 nm) through a lobe of the liver, to return to basal values after the addition of a known quantity of methanol, which is not metabolized by ADH in the rat.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)