title: Chronic alcohol intake reduces retinoic acid concentration and enhances AP-1 (c-Jun and c-Fos) expression in rat liver.
abstract: Chronic ethanol intake may interfere with retinoid signal transduction by inhibiting retinoic acid synthesis and by enhancing activator protein-1 (AP-1) (c-Jun and c-Fos) expression, thereby contributing to malignant transformation. To determine the effect of ethanol on hepatic retinoid levels, retinoic acid receptors (RARs) and AP-1 (c-Jun and c-Fos) gene expression, chronic ethanol (36% of total calorie intake) pair-feeding was conducted on rats for a 1-month period. Retinoic acid, retinol, and retinyl ester concentrations in both liver and plasma were examined by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Both retinoic acid receptor (alpha, beta, gamma) and AP-1 (c-Jun and c-Fos) expression in the rat liver were examined by using Western blot analysis. Treatment with high-dose ethanol led to a significant reduction of retinoic acid concentration in both the liver and the plasma (11- and 8.5-fold reduction, respectively), as compared with animals pair-fed an isocaloric control diet containing the same amount of vitamin A. Similar to the retinoic acid reductions, both retinol and retinyl palmitate levels in the livers of the alcohol-fed group decreased significantly, but in smaller fold reduction (6.5- and 2.6-fold reduction, respectively). Ethanol did not modulate the expression of RARalpha, -beta, and -gamma genes in the liver. However, chronic alcohol feeding enhanced AP-1 (c-Jun and c-Fos) expression by 7- to 8-fold, as compared with the control group. These data suggest that functional downregulation of RARs by inhibiting biosynthesis of retinoic acid and up-regulation of AP-1 gene expression may be important mechanisms for causing malignant transformation by ethanol.
authors.affiliation: USDA JM Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
authors.forename: X D
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stickel
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Seitz
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000096:biosynthesis; D016755:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid / Q000032:analysis; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D016755:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1; D000431:Ethanol; D014212:Tretinoin