5-ALA/SFC Attenuated Binge Alcohol-Induced Gut Leakiness and Inflammatory Liver Disease in HIV Transgenic Rats.
BACKGROUND
This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) and sodium ferrous citrate (SFC) against binge alcohol-induced gut leakiness and inflammatory liver disease in HIV transgenic (TG) rats.


METHODS
TG rats were treated with 3 consecutive doses of binge ethanol (EtOH) with or without 5-ALA/SFC. Blood and liver tissue samples were collected at 6 hours following the last dose of EtOH.


RESULTS
Compared with the wild-type (WT) rats, the TG rats showed increased sensitivity to alcohol-mediated inflammation, as evidenced by the significantly elevated levels of serum endotoxin, AST, ALT, ED1, and ED2 staining in liver. In contrast, 5-ALA/SFC improved the above biochemical and histochemical profiles. 5-ALA/SFC also attenuated the up-regulated mRNA expression of leptin and CCL2. Furthermore, down-regulated intestinal ZO-1 protein expression was also inhibited by 5-ALA/SFC. Moreover, the expressions of HO-1, HO-2, Sirt1, and related signal transduction molecules in liver were increased by 5-ALA/SFC. These results demonstrated that 5-ALA/SFC treatment ameliorated binge alcohol exposure liver injury in a rat model of HIV-infected patients by reducing macrophage activation and expression of inflammatory cytokines/chemokines, and by inducing HO-1, HO-2, and Sirt1 expression.


CONCLUSIONS
Taken together, these findings suggested that treatment with 5-ALA/SFC has a potential therapeutic effect for binge alcohol exposure liver injury in HIV-infected patients.