Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology III, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid 28040, Spain.
Alcohol. 2011 Mar;45(2):183-92. doi: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2010.08.008. Epub 2010 Sep 16.
Excessive alcohol consumption continues to be a major public health problem, particularly in the adolescent and young adult populations. Generally, such a behavior tends to be confined to the weekends, to attain frequently binge drinking. This study in peripubertal male rats compares the effect of the discontinuous feeding of a liquid diet containing a moderate amount of ethanol (6.2% wt/vol) to that of continuous ethanol administration or a control diet, taking as end points the 24-h variations of plasma prolactin levels and mitogenic responses and lymphocyte subset populations in submaxillary lymph nodes and spleen. Animals received the ethanol liquid diet starting on day 35 of life, the diet being similar to that given to controls except for that maltose was isocalorically replaced by ethanol. Ethanol provided 36% of the total caloric content. Every week, the discontinuous ethanol group received the ethanol diet for 3 days and the control liquid diet for the remaining 4 days. After 4 weeks, rats were killed at six time intervals, beginning at 0900 h. A significant decrease of splenic cells' response to concanavalin A, and of lymph node and splenic cells' response to lipopolysaccharide was found in rats under the discontinuous ethanol regime, when compared with control- or ethanol-chronic rats. Under discontinuous ethanol feeding, mean values of lymph node and splenic CD8(+) and CD4(+)-CD8(+) cells decreased, whereas those of lymph node and splenic T cells, and splenic B cells, augmented. In rats chronically fed with ethanol, splenic mean levels of CD8(+) and CD4(+)-CD8(+) cells augmented. Both modalities of ethanol administration disrupted the 24 h variation in immune function seen in controls. Mean plasma prolactin levels increased by 3.6-fold and 8.5-fold in rats chronically or discontinuously fed with alcohol, respectively. The immune parameters examined in an additional group of rats fed regular chow and water ad libitum did not differ significantly from control liquid diet. The results support the view that the discontinuous drinking of a moderate amount of ethanol can be more harmful for the immune system than a continuous ethanol intake, presumably by inducing a greater stress as indicated by the augmented plasma prolactin levels observed.
过量饮酒仍然是一个主要的公共卫生问题，尤其是在青少年和年轻成年人中。通常，这种行为往往局限于周末，以达到经常狂饮的目的。本研究比较了青春期雄性大鼠间断性摄入含适量乙醇（6.2%wt/vol）的液体饮食与连续给予乙醇或对照饮食的效果，以 24 小时血浆催乳素水平变化和下颌下淋巴结和脾脏有丝分裂反应及淋巴细胞亚群为终点。动物从第 35 天开始接受乙醇液体饮食，饮食与对照饮食相似，除了用乙醇替代麦芽糖以提供相同的热量。乙醇提供总热量的 36%。每周，间断性乙醇组连续 3 天给予乙醇饮食，其余 4 天给予对照液体饮食。4 周后，大鼠在 0900 时开始，在 6 个不同时间间隔被处死。与对照或慢性乙醇大鼠相比，间断性乙醇组大鼠脾细胞对刀豆蛋白 A、淋巴结和脾细胞对脂多糖的反应显著降低。在间断性乙醇喂养下，淋巴结和脾 CD8(+)和 CD4(+)-CD8(+)细胞的平均值降低，而淋巴结和脾 T 细胞和脾 B 细胞的平均值增加。在慢性给予乙醇的大鼠中，脾 CD8(+)和 CD4(+)-CD8(+)细胞的平均水平增加。两种乙醇给予方式均破坏了对照组中观察到的免疫功能 24 小时变化。慢性或间断性给予乙醇的大鼠血浆催乳素水平分别增加了 3.6 倍和 8.5 倍。在另一组给予常规饲料和自由饮水的大鼠中，检查的免疫参数与对照液体饮食无显著差异。结果支持这样的观点，即间断性饮用适量乙醇可能比连续摄入乙醇对免疫系统更有害，可能是通过观察到的血浆催乳素水平增加表明应激更大。
