Young and old animals “use” different strategies for adapting to the chronic effects of ethanol

Abstract

The study of the young and old animals’ adaptation characteristics to the chronic effect of ethyl alcohol provides a quick solution of problems in biomedicine and gerontology, such as the formation of age related dependencies on pathologies. We studied the chronic effect of 15 % ethanol on young and old rats (3 and 20 month) of the Wistar line, which require free access to alcohol, for 160 days (5.3 months). The time of death occurrence, the relative mass dynamics of the liver, spleen and kidneys, the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase in the post-mitochondrial supernatant of liver, the content of carbonylated proteins and the activity of aconitate hydrotase in the mitochondria of the liver, as well as the serum creatinine level after 10, 20 and 40 days from the start of taking ethyl alcohol were determined. It was shown that the “initial” functional state of the increased activity elements in the formation of ethanol tolerance in young and old animals was different, this is evidenced by changes in the ratios of such indicators as: the relative mass of the liver, kidneys and spleen, the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase, aconitate hydrotase, the content of carbonylated proteins in the liver. We came to a combination that in young rats a “compensatory delayed” adaptation to the chronic effect of alcohol is realized, while (about 50 %) have a “compensatory delayed”, and the rest have a “pathogenetic” strategy; the choice of an adaptation strategy depends on the “initial” functional state, an extremely probable participation in the exchange of ethanol.