CHRONIC-ALCOHOLISM DECREASES POLYUNSATURATED FATTY-ACID LEVELS IN HUMAN PLASMA, ERYTHROCYTES, AND PLATELETS INFLUENCE OF CHRONIC LIVER-DISEASE

The effect of chronic ethanol ingestion on fatty acid composition of p lasma. erythrocyte and platelet phospholipids and on plasma 6-keto-PGF (1) alpha was studied. Two groups of alcoholic subjects, one of them w ith chronic liver disease, were studied and compared to a control grou p of healthy subjects. Linoleic acid was not affected by alcoholism bu t its larger metabolites arachidonic acid (20:4n6) and docosatetraenoi c acid (22:4n6) tended to be lower in erythrocytes and platelets of bo th groups of alcoholic patients; the decrease was more marked in the p resence of chronic liver disease. Docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n3) was ma rkedly decreased in plasma, erythrocytes and platelets obtained from a lcoholic patients with chronic liver disease. Plasma levels of 6-keto- PGF(1) alpha, a metabolite of prostacyclin (PGI(2)), remained unchange d. We conclude that chronic ethanol ingestion induces important change s in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, mainly in platelets, and that these changes are exacerbated when patients suffer from chronic l iver disease.