Experimental alcoholic skeletal muscle myopathy is characterised by a rapid and sustained decrease in muscle RNA content.
An investigation was made into the effects of ethanol feeding (36% of total calories) on skeletal muscle. From 7 to 42 days, muscle weights and protein and DNA contents of alcohol-treated rats were significantly lower (10-23%) than pair-fed controls (with glucose as 36% of total calories). Ethanol feeding markedly reduced muscle RNA content by 22-34%, when compared to controls. Muscle RNA content of ethanol-fed rats at 7, 14, 28 and 42 days of treatment was significantly lower than initial values (i.e. at 3 days) by 22-38%. Thus, ethanol feeding caused an initial net loss and thereafter a reduction in the rate of accretion of RNA. The marked and sustained loss in the muscle protein synthetic apparatus may be a precipitating event in the development of experimental skeletal muscle myopathy.
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, U.K.
J S
JS
Marway
V R
VR
Preedy
T J
TJ
Peters
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D008297:Male; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D009132:Muscles / Q000473:pathology; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000473:pathology*; D012313:RNA / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D009124:Muscle Proteins; D000431:Ethanol; D012313:RNA