Department of Biochemistry, Radioimmunology and Experimental Medicine, The Children's Memorial Health Institute of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Provincial Sanitary - Epidemiological Station, Bialystok, Poland.
Alcohol. 2019 Dec;81:62-69. doi: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2019.04.004. Epub 2019 Apr 25.
Serum aspartate, alanine aminotransferases (AST, ALT), and plasma carnitine are all indirect biomarkers of alcohol abuse. Carnitine transfers long-chain fatty acids from cytoplasm to mitochondria for β-oxidation. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between daily alcohol intake, time of alcohol dependence, plasma carnitine, and serum aminotransferases.
We studied 26 men who were addicted for 2-30 years, consuming ethanol from 75 to 700 g/day (alcoholic group), as well as 17 healthy men (control group).
In alcoholics, compared to the controls, we found: a significant increase in serum: AST (p = 0.0014), ALT (p = 0.0071), AST/ALT ratio (p < 0.000); significantly lower plasma free carnitine (FC) (p = 0.0316) and total carnitine (TC) (p = 0.0349); and a significant negative correlation between FC (r = -0.6200; R = 0.3844; p = 0.0007), TC (r = -0.4365; R = 0.1905; p = 0.0258), and time of alcohol dependence, suggesting carnitine as an indirect marker of alcohol abuse. We did not find any significant correlation between FC, TC, and levels of alcohol or aminotransferase activity.
In the alcoholic group, there was an increase in serum activity of AST, ALT, and AST/ALT ratio that confirms liver injury. In addition, we found low plasma FC and TC, which may indicate damage to mitochondrial β-oxidation caused by alcohol metabolites. The significantly higher plasma FC and TC in patients consuming the most, compared to patients consuming smaller doses of alcohol, may be caused by a lower carnitine demand of injured liver cells, decreased urinary carnitine excretion by impaired renal tubules, and leakage of carnitine into the blood from damaged muscles by the higher quantities of alcohol. The negative correlation between carnitine concentration and time of alcohol dependence may suggest the potential use of carnitine for treatment of alcohol abuse.
血清天冬氨酸转氨酶（AST）、丙氨酸转氨酶（ALT）和血浆肉毒碱都是酒精滥用的间接生物标志物。肉毒碱将长链脂肪酸从细胞质转移到线粒体进行β-氧化。本研究旨在确定每日酒精摄入量、酒精依赖时间、血浆肉毒碱和血清转氨酶之间的关系。
我们研究了 26 名男性，他们的酒精成瘾时间为 2-30 年，每天摄入乙醇 75-700g（酒精组），以及 17 名健康男性（对照组）。
与对照组相比，酒精组患者血清 AST（p=0.0014）、ALT（p=0.0071）、AST/ALT 比值（p<0.000）显著升高；血浆游离肉毒碱（FC）（p=0.0316）和总肉毒碱（TC）（p=0.0349）显著降低；FC（r=-0.6200，R=0.3844，p=0.0007）和 TC（r=-0.4365，R=0.1905，p=0.0258）与酒精依赖时间呈显著负相关，表明肉毒碱是酒精滥用的间接标志物。我们没有发现 FC、TC 与酒精水平或转氨酶活性之间的任何显著相关性。
在酒精组中，AST、ALT 活性增加以及 AST/ALT 比值升高，证实了肝损伤。此外，我们发现血浆 FC 和 TC 水平较低，这可能表明酒精代谢物引起的线粒体β-氧化损伤。与摄入较少酒精的患者相比，摄入更多酒精的患者血浆 FC 和 TC 水平较高，这可能是由于受损肝细胞对肉毒碱的需求降低、受损肾小管对肉毒碱的尿排泄减少以及肌肉损伤导致肉毒碱漏入血液所致。肉毒碱浓度与酒精依赖时间之间的负相关可能表明肉毒碱对治疗酒精滥用有潜在的应用价值。
