Influence of Acute and Chronic Administration of Alcohol on Carbohydrate Breakdown and Energy Metabolism in the Liver

Abstract

AFTER a single dose of ethanol, changes in the contents of metabolites of the Embden–Meyerhof glycolytic pathway in the liver, which indicate that the degradation of carbohydrates through the first steps of this pathway is accelerated, can be observed. These changes are caused partly by the effect of catecholamines (unpublished work), which are liberated in excess from the adrenals^1–4, and partly by the enhanced formation of reduced nicotinamide–adenine dinucleotide (NADH₂) during the oxidation of ethanol⁵. Until now the influence of a prolonged intake of alcohol on the metabolites of carbohydrate breakdown and energy metabolism has not been investigated. Because we thought that there might be differences in the effects of ethanol after acute and chronic administration, as a consequence of adaptational processes, we investigated the contents of glycogen, glucose, glucose-6-P, fructose-1.6-P₂, dihydroxyacetone-P, glycerol-1-P, pyruvate, lactate and ATP in the livers of animals which over a period of 6 months had received a 15 per cent solution of alcohol instead of drinking water.