Rouach H, Houze P, Gentil M, Orfanelli M T, Nordmann R
Department of Biomedical Research on Alcoholism, Biomédicale des Saints-Pères, Paris, France.
Biochem Pharmacol. 1994 May 18;47(10):1835-41. doi: 10.1016/0006-2952(94)90313-1.
The uptake of iron by the liver and cerebellum was measured in rats using [59Fe]transferrin. An acute ethanol load (50 mmol/kg body wt., i.p.) elicited a significant increase in the hepatic and cerebellar non-heme iron concentration. The uptake of 59Fe by the liver and the cerebellum was significantly greater in the ethanol-treated rats than in control animals. The administration of allopurinol prior to the ethanol load prevented the changes in liver and cerebellar non-heme iron content. Moreover pretreatment with allopurinol reduced the ethanol-induced enhancement of 59Fe uptake by the liver and completely prevented the changes in 59Fe uptake by the cerebellum. These effects of allopurinol lead us to suggest that oxygen-derived free radicals are involved in the ethanol-induced disturbances of iron uptake both at the hepatic and cerebellar level.
