Effect of long-term 'corn peptide' ingestion on alcohol metabolism in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats with alcohol loading.

The effect of long-term 'corn peptide (CP)' ingestion on alcohol metabolism was investigated in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR-SP) with alcohol loading. Long-term CP ingestion in the EtOH/CP group did not significantly increase plasma GOT and GPT activities but markedly increased hepatic ADH and ALDH activities. Intragastric CP administration prior to a dose of 1.0 g/kg ethanol significantly lowered the blood ethanol concentration in SHR-SP which had been loaded with ethanol for a long time. Compared with non-loaded SHR-SP (control group), the rats loaded for a long time with ethanol (EtOH group) showed high concentrations of taurine, glycine and histidine in the plasma. The plasma threonine and proline concentrations were significantly elevated by long-term CP ingestion (EtOH/CP group), but the plasma alanine concentration was rather decreased. These results suggest that short- or long-term CP ingestion may enhance the alcohol metabolism within the body because of an increase in ADH and ALDH activities as well as the alleviation of alcohol-related hepatic injury.