SERUM AND MUSCLE LEVELS OF ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL, ASCORBIC-ACID, AND RETINOL ARE NORMAL IN CHRONIC-ALCOHOLIC MYOPATHY

Some authors have suggested a possible loss of antioxidant factors in alcoholic skeletal myopathy. To assess the relationship between ethano l consumption and serum and muscle levels of alpha-tocopherol, ascorbi c acid, and retinol in chronic alcoholics with and without skeletal my opathy, a prospective cross-sectional study was performed in the Alcoh ol Unit of a 1000-bed university hospital, Twenty-five chronic male al coholic patients (10 with skeletal myopathy) and 15 male controls of s imilar age were included. Evaluation of daily and lifetime ethanol con sumption, assessment of anthropometric and protein nutritional paramet ers, and open biopsy of the left deltoid muscle were performed, as wel l as determinations of serum and muscle levels of retinol, alpha-tocop herol, and ascorbic acid by HPLC analysis. Ten of the 25 chronic alcoh olic patients presented histological criteria of skeletal myopathy, Fo ur alcoholics presented caloric malnutrition and three protein malnutr ition. All of the muscle biopsies of the control group were entirely n ormal, as were their nutritional studies. The serum and muscular level s of alpha-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, and retinol were normal and were similar in both alcoholics and controls, Except for serum retinol, th ese values were also similar in alcoholic patients with or without ske letal myopathy, In the univariate analysis, we identified the total li fetime dose of ethanol p < 0.003), the muscle arm area (p < 0.05), and serum levels of prealbumin (p < 0.03) and retinol-binding protein (p < 0.05) as factors influencing the development of alcoholic myopathy, However. in multivariate analysis, the total lifetime dose of ethanol was the only independent factor in relation to alcoholic myopathy (p < 0.003), Serum and muscle levels of the antioxidants alpha-tocapheral, ascorbic acid, and retinol do not influence the presence of skeletal myopathy in chronic alcoholic patients.