Unlike carbohydrate and fats, alcohol is essentially foreign to the body and it is known that the body get rid of it by oxidizing alcohol maily in the liver. Acetaldehyde is produced during ethanol metabolism and is known to be oxidized mainly by
aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), ALDH activity was found mainly in the mitochondrial fraction but a significant ALDH activity was also present in microsomal and cytosol fraction. Wistar rats (150~200g, male) were given freely with 12% ethanol
(Control)
and/or 12% ethanol containing 0.1% ginseng saponins (Test) instead of water for 6 days and the liver was analyzed. ALDH activities of both control and test group were lower than that of normal group but test ALDH was less inhibited than control.
ADH of
both control and test were slightly higher than that of normal group but our previous data showed that it became gradually steady after prolonged ethanol feeding. MEOS activities of both control and test group were much higher than that of normal
group.
MEOS enzymes are inducible but the activity of test group was greatly higher than that of control. Ethanol containing[1- 14 C] ethanol(5μCi)was injected to the above three groups and 30 min later, the distribution of radioactivity of hepatic
lipids was
investigated. Radioactivities of hepatic lipids of both control and test group were higher than that of group, however, that of test group was much lower than that of control. Analysis of individual lipids showed that phospholipid biosynthesis
was
significantly impaired and fatty acid and triglycerides biosynthesis were greatly stimulated. However, it was realized that the saponin prevented phospholipid biosynthesis depression and the increase of triglyceride biosynthesis considerably. It
seemed
that the saponin might stimulate ADH, ALDH and MEOS and the acetaldehyde formed would be removed faster. The excess hydrogen can by shunt more quickly into lipid biosynthesis. Electron microscopic observation showed that the hepatic cell of
control
group was significantly damaged. Mitochondria were swollen and rough endoplasmic reticulum were dilated, however, hepatocytes of test group were not damaged.
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