ACUTE EFFECTS OF MODERATE ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION ON FIBRINOLYTIC FACTORSIN HEALTHY MIDDLE-AGED MEN

Acute effects of moderate alcohol consumption on fibrinolytic factors were investigated in 8 healthy middle-aged men (between 45 and 55 year s) in a carefully controlled study. Alcohol consumption comprised two glasses of red wine during dinner and two glasses of Dutch gin in comb ination with a snack during the evening (40 g of alcohol in total). Du ring the control treatment corresponding volumes of mineral water were consumed. Blood samples were drawn before dinner (around 15:00), 1 h after dinner (around 19:00), 1 h after the snack (around 23:00) and th e next morning (around 08:00). PAI activity was increased by 230% (p<0 .001) after alcohol consumption at the late evening measurement. PAI-1 antigen levels, however, were not significantly affected. The specifi c activity of PAI (activity/antigen quotient) was significantly increa sed by alcohol consumption at all three times of measurement after din ner. As a consequence tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) activit y was reduced by up to 95% (p<0.001), around 23:00. Levels of t-PA ant igen, on the other hand, were increased after alcohol consumption (up to +42%, p<0.01). No effects of alcohol consumption on the urokinase p lasminogen activator (u-PA) system were observed. We conclude that sho rtly after moderate alcohol consumption both t-PA antigen and PAI acti vity levels are increased, resulting, however, in a decreased activity of t-PA. Increased PAI activity persists after an overnight fast.