title: Metabolism of ethanol in rat gastric cells and its inhibition by cimetidine.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Several studies have shown that the stomach has sufficient alcohol dehydrogenase activity to metabolize a significant amount of alcohol and that cimetidine depresses this alcohol dehydrogenase activity. However, both gastric metabolism of ethanol and its inhibition by cimetidine remain controversial. Given the difficulty in assessing gastric metabolism of ethanol in vivo, this subject was investigated in vitro.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cultured rat gastric epithelial cells were incubated with 200 mmol/L [1-14C]ethanol for 90 minutes with and without cimetidine (0.1-1 mmol/L) or omeprazole (1 mmol/L). The quantity of ethanol oxidized by gastric cells was measured by the amount of acetate produced using ion exchange chromatography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of cells at confluency had typical features of mucous cells. The gastric cells metabolized significant amounts of ethanol, sufficient to account for in vivo first-pass metabolism of ethanol in rats. Cimetidine, but not omeprazole, reduced ethanol metabolism by 39.9% +/- 4.9% (P < 0.01), an inhibition comparable with that previously reported for first-pass metabolism in vivo.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gastric cells in tissue culture are capable of significant ethanol oxidation, the in vitro rates are sufficient to account for first-pass metabolism of ethanol in vivo, and cimetidine inhibits ethanol metabolism in tissue culture, an effect that parallels its decrease of first-pass metabolism in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Alcohol Research and Treatment Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, New York.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mirmiran-Yazdy
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Haber
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Korsten
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Mak
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Gentry
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Batra
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lieber
mesh_terms: D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002927:Cimetidine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013270:Stomach / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D002927:Cimetidine; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase