Ethanol, the choline requirement, methylation and liver injury.
The findings obtained in this laboratory and others over the past decade are discussed in order to formulate a thesis, indicating the adverse action of ethanol on a vital methylation process in the liver. Evidence is shown that the rat may have a means of compensating for this impairment in methylation whereas humans do not have this same ability to protect against this action of ethanol. These considerations may offer a basis of why rats are apparently more resistant to alcoholic liver injury than humans.
D000818:Animals; D001622:Betaine / Q000378:metabolism; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D008715:Methionine / Q000378:metabolism; D008745:Methylation; D051381:Rats; D013763:Tetrahydrofolates / Q000378:metabolism
D013763:Tetrahydrofolates; D006710:Homocysteine; D000431:Ethanol; D001622:Betaine; D005492:Folic Acid; D008715:Methionine; D002794:Choline; C005984:5-methyltetrahydrofolate