Effect of chronic alcohol consumption on the activities of liver plasma membrane enzymes: gamma-glutamyltransferase, alkaline phosphatase and 5'-nucleotidase.

To study the effect of chronic alcohol administration on the activities of liver plasma membrane enzymes such as gamma-glutamyltransferase, alkaline phosphatase and 5'-nucleotidase, female rats were pair-fed for 6 weeks nutritionally adequate liquid diets containing either ethanol or isocaloric carbohydrates as controls. Compared to the control diet, chronic alcohol administration resulted in a significant enhancement of serum activities of gamma-glutamyltransferase, alkaline phosphatase and 5'-nucleotidase by 91% (P less than 0.005), 80% (P less than 0.001) and 65% (P less than 0.01), respectively. Concomitantly, chronic alcohol intake led to a striking increase of gamma-glutamyltransferase activities in liver homogenates by 68% (P less than 0.001), in liver plasma membranes rich in bile canaliculi by 80% (P less than 0.025), and in liver plasma membranes free of bile canaliculi by 24% (P less than 0.02). However, chronic ethanol consumption had no effect on alkaline phosphatase activities in liver homogenates and liver plasma membranes but significantly suppressed 5'-nucleotidase activities. These results therefore show that chronic intake of ethanol increases serum activities of enzymes originating from liver plasma membranes but has different effects on the enzyme activity in liver plasma membranes itself, suggesting that the alcohol-mediated increase of serum activities of various enzymes originating from liver plasma membranes might be due to different mechanisms.