| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Dept. Cellular & Molecular Physiology, Penn State University College Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States
2 Div. Cardiology, Dept. Internal Medicine, Penn State University College Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tvary{at}psu.edu.
Chronic heavy alcohol consumption alters cardiac structure and function. Controversies still exist as to whether hearts from females respond to the chronic ethanol intake in a manner analogous to males. Sex differences in the myocardial response to chronic alcohol consumption remain unresolved at the molecular level. The purpose of the present set of experiments was to determine whether alterations in cardiac structure and protein metabolism show sexual dimorphism following chronic alcohol consumption for 26 weeks. Hearts from control, female rats showed lower heart weights and thinner ventricular walls compared with males. Chronic alcohol consumption in males, but not in females, caused a thinning of the ventricular wall and intraventricular septum, which correlated with the loss of heart mass. Smaller heart sizes were associated with lower protein contents that occurred in part from a reduced rate of protein synthesis The decreased rate of protein synthesis appeared related to a reduced assembly of active eIF4G.eIF4E complex secondary to both a diminished phosphorylation of eIF4G and increased formation of inactive 4EBP1.eIF4E complex. The latter effects occurred as a result of decreased phosphorylation of 4EBP1. None of these ethanol-induced alterations in hearts from males were observed in hearts from females. These data suggest that chronic alcohol-induced impairments in myocardial protein synthesis results from marked decreases in eIF4E.eIF4G complex formation in males. The failure of female rats consuming ethanol to show structural changes appears related to the inability of ethanol to affect the regulation protein synthesis to the same extent as their male counterparts.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  A. M. Pruznak, L. Hong-Brown, R. Lantry, P. She, R. A. Frost, T. C. Vary, and C. H. Lang Skeletal and cardiac myopathy in HIV-1 transgenic rats Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, October 1, 2008; 295(4): E964 - E973. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. M. Karinch, J. H. Martin, and T. C. Vary Acute and chronic ethanol consumption differentially impact pathways limiting hepatic protein synthesis Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, July 1, 2008; 295(1): E3 - E9. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. H. Lang, R. A. Frost, and T. C. Vary Skeletal muscle protein synthesis and degradation exhibit sexual dimorphism after chronic alcohol consumption but not acute intoxication Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, June 1, 2007; 292(6): E1497 - E1506. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Denton and C. Baylis Physiological and molecular mechanisms governing sexual dimorphism of kidney, cardiac, and vascular function Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, February 1, 2007; 292(2): R697 - R699. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| Visit Other APS Journals Online |
