Alcohol-induced decrease in uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase activity in rat liver and spleen.

Chronic alcohol consumption in rats leads to a decrease in uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase activity in liver and spleen, associated with a pathologic porphyrinuria. These findings show the toxic effect of alcohol in the biochemical pathogenesis of chronic hepatic porphyria. The results confirm experimentally the transition of symptomatic coproporphyrinuria to chronic hepatic porphyria as observed in man, and the progression of biochemical phases of chronic hepatic prophyria into the clinical phase, i.e., the development from latent to manifest stages under chronic alcohol ingestion.