Hepatology : official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases
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The mechanisms underlying alcoholic liver disease are not completely understood, but lipid accumulation seems to be central to the cause of this disease. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) plays an important role in the control of lipid homeostasis, metabolism of bioactive molecules, and modulation of inflammatory responses. To investigate the roles of PPARalpha in alcoholic liver injury, wild-type and PPARalpha-null mice were continuously fed a diet containing 4% ethanol, and liver injury was analyzed. ⋯ Next, the molecular mechanisms of ethanol-induced liver injury in PPARalpha-null mice were investigated, and changes related to ethanol and acetaldehyde metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, hepatocyte proliferation, fibrosis, and mitochondrial permeability transition activation occurred specifically in PPARalpha-null mice as compared with wild-type mice. In conclusion, these studies suggest a protective role for PPARalpha in alcoholic liver disease. Humans may be more susceptible to liver toxicity induced by ethanol as PPARalpha expression in human liver is considerably lower compared to that of rodents.