Inflammation Biomarkers in Older Adult Rats Consuming Moderate Levels of Ethanol

Abstract

Previous epidemiological studies and experimental data from rodent models have reported a non‐linear relationship between consumption of alcohol and cardiovascular disease risk and colorectal health. These studies indicate that light‐to‐moderate alcohol consumption, in contrast to excessive alcohol use, may provide cardiovascular health benefits as well as a protective effects on risk for colorectal cancer. Although prior studies have examined the effects of moderate ethanol consumption primarily in young adult animals, it is unknown if the results can be extrapolated to older adults or if these effects may be more pronounced in aging animals due to declining indices of health.. This study examined the effects of moderate ethanol consumption on lipid profile and colonic gene expression in older rats. Twenty‐four non deprived middle aged (420 days old) Wistar rats (n=12/group) were allowed to voluntarily consume a 20% v/v ethanol solution on alternate days for 13 weeks or were given access to water as their sole source of fluid (non‐ethanol exposed control). Moderate ethanol consumption significantly increased HDL cholesterol levels (P = 0.016) and ApoA1 (P = 0.048) compared to control. There were no differences in serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, oxidized LDL and glucose between the groups. Blood C‐reactive protein (CRP) was decreased significantly (P = 0.034) in ethanol‐exposed animals. Blood high‐mobility group protein 1 (HMGB1) showed a decreased trend in the ethanol group (P = 0.083). In colon, gene expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase (Aldh) displayed an increased trend in ethanol‐exposed rats (P = 0.073). Colonic superoxide dismutase (Sod) was upregulated with ethanol intervention (P = 0.050). Colonic gene expression of cyclooxygenase 2 (Cox‐2), RelA, b‐catenin, CD68, and Pparr were not different between the groups. These results suggest that moderate consumption of ethanol in older rats may potentially contribute to improved cardiovascular and colorectal cancer risk by improving blood cholesterol, decreasing blood markers of inflammation in and increasing antioxidant enzyme expression in colon. Support or Funding Information NIH AA023291