Ethanol-inducible cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) contributes to increased oxidative stress and steatosis in chronic alcohol-exposure models. However, its role in binge ethanol-induced gut leakiness and hepatic injury is unclear. This study was aimed to investigate the role of CYP2E1 in binge alcohol-induced gut leakiness and the mechanisms of steatohepatitis. Female wild-type (WT) and Cyp2e1-null mice were treated with three doses of binge ethanol (WT-EtOH or Cyp2e1-null-EtOH) (6 g/kg oral gavage at 12-h intervals) or dextrose (negative control). Intestinal histology of only WT-EtOH exhibited epithelial alteration and blebbing of lamina propria while liver histology obtained at 6 h after the last ethanol dose showed elevated steatosis with scattered inflammatory foci. These were accompanied by increased levels of serum endotoxin, hepatic enterobacteria and triglycerides. All these changes including the intestinal histology and hepatic apoptosis, determined by TUNEL assay, were significantly reversed when WT-EtOH mice were treated with the specific inhibitor of CYP2E1 chlormethiazole and the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine, both of which suppressed the oxidative markers including intestinal CYP2E1. WT-EtOH also exhibited elevated amounts of serum TNF-α, hepatic cytokines, CYP2E1 and lipid peroxidation with decreased levels of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase and suppressed aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 activity. Increased hepatocyte apoptosis with elevated levels of pro-apoptotic proteins and decreased levels of active (phosphorylated) p-AKT, p-AMPK and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPAR-α), all of which are involved in fat metabolism and inflammation, were observed in WT-EtOH. These changes were significantly attenuated in the corresponding Cyp2e1-null-EtOH mice. These data indicate that both intestinal and hepatic CYP2E1 induced by binge alcohol seem critical in the binge alcohol-mediated increased nitroxidative stress, gut leakage, endotoxemia, and altered fat metabolism, and inflammation, contributing to hepatic apoptosis and steatohepatitis.

Background & Aims Ethanol-inducible cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) activity contributes to oxidative stress. However, CYP2E1 may have an important role in the pathogenesis of high-fat mediated nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Thus, the role of CYP2E1 in high-fat mediated NASH development was evaluated. Methods Male wild-type (WT) and Cyp2e1-null mice were fed a low-fat diet (LFD, 10% energy-derived) or high-fat diet (HFD, 60% energy-derived) for 10 weeks. Liver histology and tissue homogenates were examined for various parameters of oxidative stress and inflammation. Results Liver histology showed that only WT mice fed a HFD developed NASH despite increased steatosis in both WT and Cyp2e1-null mice fed HFD. Markers of oxidative stress such as elevated CYP2E1 activity and protein amounts, lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation, nitration, and glycation with increased phospho-JNK were all markedly elevated only in the livers of HFD-fed WT mice. Furthermore, while the levels of inflammation markers osteopontin and F4/80 were higher in HFD-fed WT mice, TNFα and MCP-1 contents were lower compared to the corresponding LFD-fed WT. Finally, only HFD-fed WT mice exhibited increased insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance. Conclusions These data suggest that CYP2E1 is critically important in NASH development by promoting oxidative/nitrosative stress, protein modifications, inflammation and insulin resistance.

Cardiovascular diseases cause more mortality and morbidity worldwide than any other diseases. Although many intracellular signaling pathways influence cardiac physiology and pathology, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family has garnered significant attention because of its vast implications in signaling and cross-talk with other signaling networks. The extensively studied MAPKs ERK1/2, p38, JNK, and ERK5, demonstrate unique intracellular signaling mechanisms, responding to a myriad of mitogens and stressors and influencing the signaling of cardiac development, metabolism, performance, and pathogenesis. Definitive relationships between MAPK signaling and cardiac dysfunction remain elusive, despite 30 years of extensive clinical studies and basic research of various animal/cell models, severities of stress, and types of stimuli. Still, several studies have proven the importance of MAPK cross-talk with mitochondria, powerhouses of the cell that provide over 80% of ATP for normal cardiomyocyte function and play a crucial role in cell death. Although many questions remain unanswered, there exists enough evidence to consider the possibility of targeting MAPK-mitochondria interactions in the prevention and treatment of heart disease. The goal of this review is to integrate previous studies into a discussion of MAPKs and MAPK-mitochondria signaling in cardiac diseases, such as myocardial infarction (ischemia), hypertrophy and heart failure. A comprehensive understanding of relevant molecular mechanisms, as well as challenges for studies in this area, will facilitate the development of new pharmacological agents and genetic manipulations for therapy of cardiovascular diseases.

Acetaminophen (APAP), a widely-used analgesic agent, can cause liver injury through increased nitrative stress, leading to protein nitration. However, the identities of nitrated proteins and their roles in hepatotoxicity are poorly understood. Thus, we aimed at studying the mechanism of APAP-induced hepatotoxicity by systematic identification and characterization of nitrated proteins in the absence or presence of an anti-oxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC). The levels of nitrated proteins markedly increased at 2 h in mice exposed to a single APAP dose (350 mg/kg ip), which caused severe liver necrosis at 24 h. Protein nitration and liver necrosis were minimal in mice exposed to nontoxic 3-hydroxyacetanilide or animals co-treated with APAP and NAC. Mass-spectral analysis of the affinity-purified nitrated proteins identified numerous mitochondrial and cytosolic proteins including mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase, Mn-superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, ATP synthase, and 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase involved in anti-oxidant defense, energy supply, and fatty acid metabolism, respectively. Immunoprecipitation followed by immunoblot with anti-3-NT antibody confirmed that the aforementioned proteins were nitrated in APAP-exposed mice but not in NAC-co-treated mice. Consistently, NAC co-treatment significantly restored the suppressed activities of these enzymes. Thus, we demonstrate a new mechanism by which many nitrated proteins with concomitantly suppressed activities promotes APAP-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and hepatotoxicity.