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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Davis, California » Western Human Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #169888
Title: EFFECTS OF CHRONIC ETHANOL INGESTION AND FOLATE DEFICIENCY ON THE ACTIVITY OF 10-FORMYLTETRAHYDROFOLATE DEHYDROGENASE IN RAT LIVER

Author
item MIN, HYESUN - HANNAM UNIV.NUTR.FOOD
item IM, EUN-SUN - YEUNGNAM UNIV.NUTR.
item SEO, JUNG SOOK - YUENGNAM UNIV. NUTR.
item MUN, JU - HANNAM UNIVERSITY,KOREA
item Burri, Betty

Submitted to: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/2/2005
Publication Date: 12/1/2005
Citation: Min, H., Im, E., Seo, J., Mun, J.A., Burri, B.J. 2005. Effects of chronic ethanol ingestion and folate deficiency on the activity of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase in rat liver. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental. 2005:Vol, No.12, pp 2188-2193

Interpretive Summary: Folate is a water-soluble vitamin that helps form red blood cells and assists in the formation of genetic material in cells. People who drink excessive amounts of alcohol tend to have folate deficiency. In the past, most nutritionists believed that folate deficiency in alcoholics was caused entirely by the poor diets that many excessive drinkers eat. Recently, nutritionists realized that poor diets cannot entirely account for the low folate status of alcoholics, and have begun to explore how alcohol interacts with folate. We fed rats several diets that had different amounts of pure alcohol and folate, and looked for differences in protein concentrations. We identified an important protein in folate metabolism that is depressed by alcohol. This important protein in folate metabolism could be one reason why alcoholics have low folate.

Technical Abstract: Chronic ethanol ingestion often produces folate deficiency. Sprague-Dawley rats were fed folate-sufficient (FS) or folate-deficient diets (FD); with or without ethanol (E) for 4 weeks. FSE rats had decreased plasma folate and elevated plasma homocysteine (P<0.05) compared to FS rats. Erythrocyte folate was increased by ethanol feeding (FSE = FDE folate > FS = FD). FSE, FD and FDE diets depressed hepatic activities of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate (10-FTHF) dehydrogenase (DH) which catalyses the deformylation of 10-FTHF to tetrahydrofolate. Folate deficiency and ethanol consumption each appeared to affect FTHFDH. Ethanol decreased FTHFDH activity, one possible mechanism by which ethanol intake decreases folate.