Immune system impairment and increased susceptibility to infection among alcohol abusers is a significant but not well-understood problem. We hypothesized that acute ethanol administration would inhibit leukocyte recruitment and endothelial cell activation during inflammation and infection. Using LPS and carrageenan air pouch models in mice, we found that physiological concentrations of ethanol...

IT HAS BEEN POSTULATED THAT A NUMBER OF THE CENTRAL EFFECTS OF ETHANOL ARE MEDIATED VIA ETHANOL METABOLITES: acetaldehyde and acetate. Ethanol is known to produce a large variety of behavioral actions such anxiolysis, narcosis, and modulation of locomotion. Acetaldehyde contributes to some of those effects although the contribution of acetate is less known. In the present studies, rats and mice...

Effects of ethanol on the gastrointestinal tract are reviewed, and an overview of possible mechanisms of ethanol damage to the alimentary tract is presented. Ethanol toxicity most commonly results in metabsorption. Mechanisms contributing to ethanol-induced calcium malabsorption are considered in detail as a prototype for problems encountered in evaluating effects of toxicants on intestinal fun...

Alcohol addiction and intoxication are major health problems worldwide. Acute alcohol intoxication is well reported in adults and adolescents but less frequently reported in children of younger ages. We report three anonymized cases of pediatric ethanol exposure and illustrate the different mechanisms of intoxication. In all cases, a focused history is the key to prompt diagnosis and timely man...

The neural mechanisms underlying alcohol dependence are not well-understood. GABAergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are a relevant target for ethanol. They are inhibited by ethanol at physiologically-relevant levels in vivo and display marked hyperexcitability during withdrawal. In the present study, we examined the effects of the GABA(A) receptor agonist muscimol on VTA neurons ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Ethanol consumption is inversely associated with the risk of ischemic stroke, suggesting a neuroprotective effect. In a rat model of transient cerebral ischemia, we identified ethanol as a possible treatment for acute ischemic stroke. METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion for 2 hours. Five sets of experiments were conducted: to d...

G-Protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channels (GIRKs) regulate synaptic transmission and neuronal firing rates. Selective enhancement of GIRK2 function by intoxicating concentrations of ethanol was recently shown for recombinant homomeric and heteromeric channels. We proposed that specific behavioral actions of ethanol are due to activation of GIRK channels and that these behaviors w...

Alcohol abuse is associated with both acute and chronic pancreatitis. Repeated episodes of acute pancreatitis or pancreatic injury may result in chronic pancreatitis. We investigated ethanol-induced pancreatic injury using a mouse model of binge ethanol exposure. Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to ethanol intragastrically (5 g/kg, 25% ethanol w/v) daily for 10 days. Binge ethanol exposure caused...

Chronic ethanol consumption is associated with an increased prevalence of hypertension. The mechanisms of this form of hypertension are unknown. Rats fed ethanol for 2 days develop a tolerance to the acute vasoconstrictive effects of ethanol that is believed to be endothelium dependent. We investigated the effects of acute and chronic ethanol exposure on agonist-stimulated nitric oxide synthase...

AIMS Alcohol toxicity can induce multiple organ dysfunction, including the liver. Gallated catechins (GCs), the components of green tea extract (GTE), have been known to inhibit intestinal lipid absorption. This study was designed to investigate the inhibitory effect of GC on the absorption of the lipid-soluble ethanol in normal mice. In addition, the effectiveness of prolonging the GC-mediated...