Alcoholic liver injury: Influence of gender and hormones

Abstract

This article discusses several subjects pertinent to a consideration of the role of gender and hormones in alcoholic liver injury (ALI). Beginning with an overview of factors involved in the pathogenesis of ALI, we review changes in sex hormone metabolism resulting from alcohol ingestion, summarize research that points to estrogen as a cofactor in ALI, consider evidence that gut injury is linked to liver injury in the setting of alcohol, and briefly review the limited evidence regarding sex hormones and gut barrier function. In both women and female animals, most studies reveal a propensity toward greater alcohol-induced liver injury due to female gender, although exact hormonal influences are not yet understood. Thus, women and their physicians should be alert to the dangers of excess alcohol consumption and the increased potential for liver injury in females.

Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Platycodin D on Alcohol-Induced Fatty Liver Rats via Tlr4-Myd88-Nf-

“…Because excessive alcohol intake could maintain blood high alcohol levels and increase the levels of circulating endotoxin in the portal blood, which is the key factor for the progression of alcoholic liver diseases (Nanji et al, 1994), and fish oil rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids has played an important role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease (Polavarapu et al, 1998), the rats were fed on ethanol and fish oil to induce the AFL model. Meanwhile, female rats in the experimental model of alcohol-induced liver injury were significantly more severe liver injury than the males ones (Eagon, 2010) and simvastatin protect against liver damage by the induction related enzymes-participated signaling pathways (Habeos et al, 2008). So female rats were selected as experimental animals and simvastatin was selected as positive control to study the mechanism of liver protective function of PD against doi: 10.21010/ajtcam.v13i4.23 inflammation and endotoxin in alcohol-induced AFL rats.…”

Sex Differences: A Resultant of an Evolutionary Pressure?

“…We now know that in women alcohol damage is magnified by their specific metabolic and hormonal setting. Therefore, women are more susceptible than males to the progression of the diseases even in case of consumption of limited amounts of alcohol (Becker et al, 1996;Colantoni et al, 2002;Eagon, 2010;Ikejima et al, 1998;Pares et al, 1986;Waxman and Holloway, 2009). The inability to have a clear vision on the involvement of sex or gender in a pathological manifestation limits our insights on the mechanism inducing the disease and our ability to establish effective prevention plans.…”

Pregnane X Receptor–Humanized Mice Recapitulate Gender Differences in Ethanol Metabolism but Not Hepatotoxicity

“…Further, high-fat diet-fed hPXR females express lower basal protein levels of both hepatic and white adipose tissue estrogen receptor a (ERa) (Spruiell et al, 2014a). Given that higher estrogen levels and/or signaling in women have been implicated in EtOH-induced liver injury, we reasoned that the human PXR gene may play a role in sex differences in EtOH-induced liver injury (Eagon, 2010).…”