Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0015695 (fatty liver)
 13,941 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Alcohol (ethanol) was administered chronically to female Sprague-Dawley rats in a nutritionally adequate, totally liquid diet for 28 days. This resulted in significant hepatic steatosis and lipid peroxidation. When taurine was administered for 2 days following alcohol withdrawal it was found to reduce alcohol-induced lipid peroxidation and completely reversed hepatic steatosis. The reversal of hepatic steatosis was demonstrated both biochemically and histologically. Two days following alcohol withdrawal, the apparent activity of the alcohol-inducible form of cytochrome P450 (CYP2E1) was unchanged although total cytochrome P450 content was increased. In addition, alcohol significantly inhibited hepatic methionine synthase activity and increased homocysteine excretion in urine. Although alcohol did not affect the urinary excretion of taurine (a non-invasive marker of liver damage), levels of serum and hepatic taurine were markedly raised in animals given taurine following their treatment with alcohol, compared to animals given taurine alone. There was evidence of slight bile duct injury in animals treated with alcohol and with alcohol followed by taurine, as indicated by raised serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and cholesterol. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was also slightly raised. The effects of taurine on reversing hepatic steatosis may be due to the enhanced secretion of hepatic triglycerides. It is suggested that increased bile flow as a result of taurine treatment may have contributed to the removal of lipid peroxides. These in-vivo findings demonstrate for the first time that hepatic steatosis and lipid peroxidation, occurring as a result of chronic alcohol consumption, can be reversed by administration of taurine to rats for 2 days.
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PMID:Reversal of ethanol-induced hepatic steatosis and lipid peroxidation by taurine: a study in rats. 1078 1

Intragastric ethanol feeding in mice induces expression of unfolded protein response/endoplasmic reticulum (UPR/ER) stress response genes. The proximate cause appears to be hyperhomocysteinemia, a well-known cause of ER stress in other contexts. Hyperhomocysteinemia appears to be due to downregulation of methionine synthase. The importance of homocysteine and ER stress in the pathogenesis of liver disease was suggested by the prevention of the alcohol-induced changes by feeding sufficient betaine to lower homocysteine via betaine homocysteine methyl transferase. The ER stress, via CHOP, causes apoptosis and CHOP null mice exhibit no apoptosis. Alcohol-induced ER stress can activate sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-1c and SREBP-2, which contribute to the accumulation of triglyceride and cholesterol. Hyperhomocysteinemia, ER stress and pathological changes of alcohol were minimally affected by absence of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1) and the effect of betaine was also independent of TNF signaling. At present ER stress as an important factor in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease is an exciting new hypothesis and ongoing research will need to further clarify its contribution. Among the issues in need of further elucidation are the role of ER stress induced by alcohol in SREBP regulation and fatty liver, as well as the precise mechanism of protection by betaine: decreased homocysteine, decreased S-adenosylhomocysteine, or increased S-adenosylmethionine.
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PMID:Unfolding new mechanisms of alcoholic liver disease in the endoplasmic reticulum. 1695 78