Contrasting effects of acute and chronic ethanol administration on rat liver tyrosine aminotransferase

We compared the effects of acute and chronic ethanol administration on the activity and synthesis of tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) in rat liver. In acute experiments, chow-fed rats received a single dose of either ethanol (6 g/kg body wt.) or saline. In chronic studies, rats were pair-fed liquid diets containing either ethanol (36% of calories) or isocaloric maltose-dextrin for 6–8 weeks. In rats acutely fed ethanol, the relative rate of TAT synthesis was more than twofold higher than in saline-treated controls. In rats subjected to chronic ethanol administration, both the TAT activity and synthesis rate were the same as in pair-fed controls, but both these parameters in the two groups were equal to those in animals given acute ethanol acutely. These findings indicate that whereas acute ethanol administration was associated with a stimulation of TAT synthesis, long-term ethanol administration was not. The data suggest that ethanol itself does not directly induce TAT. Rather, enzyme synthesis is regulated by one or more endogenous secondary effector(s) whose production is influenced differently by acute or chronic ethanol feeding.