Ethanol effects on albumin sythesis.

Abstract

During the metabolism of ethanol, albumin and urea synthesis are inhibited in the liver and it has been shown in the isolated perfused rabbit liver that the combination of fasting plus ethanol is more inhibitory to the protein synthesizing mechanism than either stress alone (1-3). In addition, specific amino acids are capable of reversing both the effects of fasting and of ethanol when these two types of stresses are supplied separately (4). One of these amino acids is ornithine, an amino acid not incorporated into protein. However, ornithine is the percursor of the polyamines, and these substances have been shown to play important roles in cellular regeneration (5-9). Since the mechanism of action of ethanol metabolism in inhibiting protein synthesis is not known, the present studies were undertaken to evaluate the effects of acetaldehyde on albumin synthesis and to determine if the amino acids and spermine play similar roles during ethanol infusions or in fasting states (4).KeywordsEthanol InfusionPerfuse LiverEthanol OxidationUrea SynthesisAlbumin SynthesisThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.