Ethanol potentiates oxygen uptake and toxicity due to menadione bisulfite in perfused rat liver

Menadione bisulfite is a hepatotoxicant that damages periportal regions of the lobule in perfused liver in an oxygen-dependent manner. The effect of ethanol on menadione bisulfite toxicity was examined in perfused rat liver. Addition of menadione bisulfite (3 mM) alone to the perfusate increased oxygen uptake by 20-30 mumols/g/hr. Lactate dehydrogenase was released into the effluent after 60 min of perfusion and reached values around 100 units/g/hr. Under these conditions, trypan blue was taken up exclusively in periportal regions of the liver lobule; 44% of periportal cells were stained. In the presence of ethanol, maximal increases in oxygen uptake due to menadione bisulfite were much larger (about 90 mumols/g/hr), and lactate dehydrogenase release occurred earlier and reached higher maximal values (330 units/g/hr). Trypan blue staining was also more extensive; 90% of periportal cells were stained. The effect of ethanol on menadione bisulfite-induced oxygen uptake required metabolism via alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), because ethanol increased oxygen uptake due to menadione bisulfite from 44 to 81 mumols/g/hr in deermice with ADH but had no effect in deermice lacking ADH. Other agents that increase NADH (xylitol and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol) also potentiated the stimulation of oxygen uptake due to menadione bisulfite, suggesting that ethanol was working by increasing the NADH redox state. Cyanide abolished the increase in oxygen uptake due to menadione bisulfite, both in the absence and in the presence of ethanol, supporting the hypothesis that the effect of ethanol on menadione bisulfite-mediated oxygen uptake involves the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Further, the stimulation of oxygen uptake by menadione bisulfite in isolated mitochondria was enhanced when matrix NADH was increased by addition of beta-hydroxybutyrate. These data indicate that ethanol potentiates oxygen uptake and toxicity due to menadione bisulfite most likely by generation of NADH for redox cycling of this model quinone.