title: Recent advances in alcoholic liver disease II. Minireview: molecular mechanisms of alcoholic fatty liver.
abstract: Alcohol has long been thought to cause fatty liver by way of altered NADH/NAD(+) redox potential in the liver, which, in turn, inhibits fatty acid oxidation and the activity of tricarboxylic acid cycle reactions. More recent studies indicate that additional effects of ethanol both impair fat oxidation and stimulate lipogenesis. Ethanol interferes with DNA binding and transcription-activating properties of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPARalpha), as demonstrated with cultured cells and in ethanol-fed mice. Treatment of ethanol-fed mice with a PPARalpha agonist can reverse fatty liver even in the face of continued ethanol consumption. Ethanol also activated sterol regulatory element binding protein 1, inducing a battery of lipogenic enzymes. These effects may be due in part to inhibition of AMP-dependent protein kinase, reduction in plasma adiponectin, or increased levels of TNF-alpha in the liver. The understanding of these ethanol effects provides new therapeutic targets to reverse alcoholic fatty liver.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Emerson Hall Rm. 317, 545 Barnhill Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Crabb
mesh_terms: D055372:AMP-Activated Protein Kinases; D052242:Adiponectin; D000818:Animals; D022762:CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008108:Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / Q000378:metabolism*; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000378:metabolism; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D051780:Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D052242:Adiponectin; D022762:CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D011506:Proteins; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; C497387:SREBF1 protein, human; D051780:Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D000431:Ethanol; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D055372:AMP-Activated Protein Kinases