Effect of chronic ethanol consumption on respiratory and glycolytic activities of rat periportal and perivenous hepatocytes

Previous studies (Ivester et al., Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 322, 14-21, 1995) have established that periportal and perivenous hepatocytes isolated from ethanol-fed rats demonstrate lower ATP concentrations than those in control preparations when the cells are maintained at very low oxygen tension. In the present investigation, experiments were implemented with periportal and perivenous hepatocytes to determine the effects of chronic ethanol consumption on cellular respiratory and glycolytic activities, since both contribute to maintenance of the energy state of the liver cell. Both periportal and perivenous hepatocytes from ethanol-fed rats demonstrated significantly increased, rather than decreased, respiratory activity when monitored with oxygen concentrations ranging from 16 to 140 microM. Whole liver hepatocytes from control and ethanol-fed animals demonstrated equivalent oxygen utilization, however. Glycolytic activity, monitored by lactate + pyruvate concentrations obtained after both anaerobic and aerobic incubation protocols, was decreased in both cell types from ethanol-fed animals. The glycogen concentrations in freshly isolated periportal and perivenous hepatocytes were also decreased eight- and sevenfold, respectively, as compared with control preparations. Incubation under anaerobic conditions resulted in almost complete depletion of glycogen in both cell types. These observations suggest the possibility that the decreased energy state observed in hepatocytes from ethanol-fed animals is related to a depression in anaerobic glycolysis due to depletion of the endogenous substrate, glycogen.

Differential effects of chronic ethanol consumption on hepatic mitochondrial and cytoplasmic ribosomes

The effects of chronic ethanol consumption on the properties of mitochondrial and cytoplasmic ribosomes were investigated in rat liver. Sedimentation properties of purified mitochondrial (55S) and cytoplasmic (80S) ribosomes were determined by analyses on sucrose density gradients. Mitochondrial ribosomes from control animals moved further in the gradients than did those isolated from ethanol-fed rats, which suggests that ethanol ribosomes have a lower molecular weight. In addition, mitochondrial from ethanol-fed animals contained a lower percentage of ribosomes present as the intact monosome, suggesting that ethanol may have an effect on the stability of the functional mitochondrial ribosomes. This was confirmed by the presence of the larger 39S subunit in preparations from ethanol-fed animals. No such ethanol-related alterations were seen with cytoplasmic ribosomes. The protein composition of mitochondrial cytoplasmic ribosomes was investigated using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, followed by two-dimensional densitometry. As indicated by differences in protein staining intensity, ethanol consumption seemed to alter the concentration of seven mitochondrial ribosomal proteins. In contrast, no such changes were observed in the protein pattern from cytoplasmic ribosomes. Observations in this study provide for the possibility that alterations in the amounts of selected proteins in the mitochondrial ribosome lead to impaired assembly of the ribosome. These ethanol-related structural changes may be responsible for the decreased activity of mitochondrial ribosomes that results in impaired hepatic mitochondrial protein synthesis (W.B. Coleman and C.C. Cunningham, Biochim. Biophys, Acta 1058:178-186, 1991). Furthermore, this study reemphasizes the increased susceptibility of the hepatic mitochondrial translation system, compared with the cytoplasmic system to chronic ethanol consumption.

Isolation and characterization of rat liver mitochondrial ribosomes

A procedure has been developed that allows characterization of mitochondrial ribosomes and quantitative analysis of the relative composition of constitutive ribosomal proteins. Purified mitochondrial ribosomes were isolated from two rat livers and shown to be active in catalyzing the polymerization of phenylalanine. They differ in sedimentation and spectral properties from cytoplasmic ribosomes isolated from the same livers. The number and relative composition of proteins present in active rat liver mitochondrial ribosomes were investigated using two-dimensional nonequilibrium pH gradient electrophoresis. There were 86 proteins found associated with mitochondrial ribosomes in contrast to 70 proteins found associated with cytoplasmic ribosomes. Comparison of electrophoretic patterns revealed that cytoplasmic ribosomal proteins were considerably more basic than their mitochondrial counterparts. Densitometry demonstrated that the relative changes in the concentrations of these proteins can be measured quantitatively. These procedures, developed for use with two rat livers, allow the rat to be used as an efficient model for further studies into disease states of mitochondrial translation.