The role of liver antioxidant system in predisposition of rats to hepatotoxic effect of ethanol

A new methodological approach capable of revealing factors responsible for the susceptibility of rat liver to ethanol hepatotoxicity has been developed. Using the correlation, dispersion, iteration, multifactor regression, and canonical analyses, a relation was established between the initial state of the liver antioxidant system and the character and degree of the subsequent ethanol-induced damage. In particular, it was found that intact animals with initially low level of reduced glutathione and retinols in the liver, as well as those with enzymopathy of cytosol HDNB-glutathione-8-transferase, are more susceptible to the ethanol liver damage.