Ethanol enhances desialylation of transferrin by liver endothelial cells in the rat.

ABSTRACT Desialylated transferrin is emerg ing as a reliable index of alcoholism, and liver endothelial cells are known to partially desialy late transferrin. The effect of a single intraperi toneal injection of ethanol on the desialylation of transferrin in the rat was studied. In pulse chase experiments, fully sialylated diferric transferrin labeled with 125 I (protein moiety) or 3 H (sialyl residues) was incubated with isolated, fractionated liver endothelial cells from rats that were given ethanol. The supernatants then were subjected to column chromatography using RCA 12 o agarose to separate and quantify the desialylated fraction of transferrin. S alinetreated animais served as controls. Incubation of the endothelial cells derived from the liver of ethanol treated rats resulted in a 263% increase in desialylation level of transferrin. Our data indicate that administering ethanol in rats enhances the desialylation of transferrin by rat liver endothelial cells.