Effect of Ethanol on Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Hepatocytes From Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Background: Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) play a major role in membrane structures that are modified during alcoholism. PUFA are also precursors of second messengers—eicosanoids—involved in the regulation of blood pressure. Alcohol has been related to hypertension and to alterations in liver PUFA metabolism. We investigated the effects of ethanol on PUFA biogenesis in hepatocytes of Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats and Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR). The effects of a diet enriched with n‐3 PUFA, which is known to modulate hypertension, were also studied.Methods: Isolated hepatocytes from male normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats and SHR were incubated for 60 min in the presence of labeled linoleic acid and DGLA, which are precursors of the limiting desaturation steps of PUFA biosynthesis, into a medium containing different concentrations of ethanol. Hepatocytes from SHR that were fed a diet supplemented with n‐3 PUFA were incubated with the same precursors.Results: First, the hepatic biogenesis of PUFA is dependent on the level of ethanol in the incubation medium. Second, Δ5 desaturase was more sensitive than Δ6 desaturase to changes in alcohol concentration. Third, in SHR, a tremendous decrease of arachidonic acid biosynthesis was evidenced in alcohol‐intoxicated hepatocytes; the effect was reinforced when ethanol concentration was high, mainly for Δ5 desaturase. Fourth, in the presence of ethanol, the biogenesis of PUFA was altered in isolated hepatocytes from SHR that were fed the diet supplemented with n‐3 PUFA, particularly via an inhibition of Δ5 desaturation.Conclusions: Our study showed that hepatocyte PUFA biogenesis is dependent on ethanol concentration. Ethanol strongly inhibits the synthesis of PUFA in hepatocytes from SHR, which can explain the deficit of prostaglandin precursors observed in cardiovascular diseases linked to ethanol intoxication. n‐3 PUFA supplemented diet reinforces the inhibition of arachidonic acid synthesis, likely by a substrate competition toward Δ5 desaturation. This in vitro approach provides a better understanding of the effects of ethanol on fatty acid metabolism in relation to hypertension.