The role of ethanol metabolism in development of alcoholic steatohepatitis in the rat

The importance of ethanol metabolism in the development of alcoholic liver disease remains controversial. The present study examined the effects of selective inhibition of the cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP2E1 compared with the inhibition of overall ethanol metabolism on the development of alcoholic steatohepatitis. Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were fed via total enteral nutrition for 45 days with or without 10–12 g/kg/d ethanol. Some groups were given 200 mg/kg/d of the CYP2E1 inhibitor diallyl sulfide (DAS). Other groups were treated with 164 mg/kg/d of the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) inhibitor 4-methylpyrazole (4-MP) and dosed at 2–3 g/kg/d ethanol to maintain similar average urine ethanol concentrations. Liver pathology scores and levels of apoptosis were elevated by ethanol (P < .05) but did not differ significantly on cotreatment with DAS or 4-MP. However, liver triglycerides were lower when ethanol-fed rats were treated with DAS or 4-MP (P < .05). Serum alanine aminotransferase values were significantly lower in ethanol-fed 4-MP–treated rats indicating reduced necrosis. Hepatic oxidative stress and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress marker tribbles-related protein 3 were increased after ethanol (P < .05); further increased by DAS but partly attenuated by 4-MP. Both DAS and 4-MP reversed ethanol increases in the cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and the chemokine CXCL-2 (P < .05). However, neither inhibitors prevented ethanol suppression of interleukins IL-4 or IL-12. Moreover, neither inhibitors prevented ethanol increases in tumor growth factor-beta mRNA. Ethanol and DAS additively induced hepatic hyperplasia (P < .05). These data suggest that a significant proportion of hepatic injury after ethanol exposure is independent of alcohol metabolism. Ethanol metabolism by CYP2E1 may be linked in part to triglyceride accumulation, to induction of TNF-α, and to chemokine production. Ethanol metabolism by ADH may be linked in part to oxidative and ER stress and necrotic injury.