Changes in the activity of citrate lyase, malic enzyme and acetyl-CoA synthetase in rat liver after short-term and long-term feeding with ethanol

Abstract

1. The effect of short-term and long-term feeding (0–80 d) with a liquid diet containing ethanol on the activity of rat hepatic enzymes related to lipogenesis has been evaluated. Carbohydrates were isoenergetically substituted for ethanol in the control animals.2. The maximum concentration of triglycerides in the livers was reached after about 30 d, when it was almost three times as high as in the control animals. The activity of malic enzyme (EC1·1·1·40) and ATP citrate lyase (EC4·1·3·8) decreased significantly in the ethanol group, compared with the control rats, within 10 d and remained low during the rest of the experiment (80 d). After 20 d, the acetyl-CoA synthetase (EC6·2·1·1) activity increased significantly in the livers of the ethanol-fed rats but fell subsequently to values similar to those in the livers of the control rats. Thus, despite a pronounced increase in the amount of triglyceride in the livers of rats on a liquid diet containing ethanol, there was a dramatic decrease in the activity of the enzymes (malic enzyme and citrate lyase) involved in lipogenesis.3. The almost unchanged activity of acetyl-CoA synthetase shows that the utilization of acetate, produced when ethanol is oxidized, is not stimulated by long-term feeding with ethanol. The involvement of citrate lyase in various postulated shuttles for the transport of reducing equivalents across the mitochondrial membrane and the role of malic enzyme in the microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system are discussed.