Effect of acute and chronic ethanol treatment on renal prostaglandins in the rat

Abstract

To study the effects of ethanol on renal prostaglandins (PGs), we gave rats a dose of 3.0 g/kg body weight either as a single IP injection (acute treatment) or daily IP injections of the same dose for 23 consecutive days (chronic treatment). The availability of PG precursors was evaluated from the post mortem accumulation of PGF 2α in kidney as determined by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry, and the renal excretion of PGF 2α was measured by radioimmunoassay. Acute ethanol treatment had no dramatic effect on either tissue levels or urinary excretion rate of PGF 2α but chronic ethanol treatment significantly lowered renal PGF 2α levels. In another experiment we employed liquid ethanol diets and a pair feeding technique for 12 days to achieve tolerance and physical dependence on ethanol. The levels of PGF 2α and 6-keto PGF 1α were measured in kidney in rats killed at 2, 6, and 12 days post-treatment. The kidney levels of both prostaglandins were lowered throughout the period of chronic ethanol exposure but returned to normal within five days after withdrawal. Thus, chronic but not acute ethanol treatment leads to a depletion of the renal stores of prostaglandin precursors in the rat.