Nightlife hits the liver
Violation of circadian rhythms provokes alcoholic destruction of the liver through the intestines
A third of chronic alcoholics develop serious liver diseases. But not at all. Researchers from Northwestern University and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago decided to get to the bottom of the reasons for these differences.
A few years ago, Ali Keshavarzyan, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center, working with patients, discovered that the shift in daily activity has a great impact on their condition.
The doctor noticed that some patients with inflammatory bowel diseases complain of deterioration at a time when they have to switch to night work, and can control the disease if they work normally. He turned to his colleague Fred Turek, a professor at Northwestern University, to jointly investigate this phenomenon.
Keshavarzyan drew attention to the effect of the "permeable intestine" – a phenomenon when the small intestine becomes permeable and ceases to filter bacteria and toxins that enter the blood because of this. Experiments on mice have demonstrated that a violation of circadian (circadian) rhythms contributes to the "permeable intestine". Then the scientists evaluated the effect of circadian rhythms on mice with artificially induced colitis (inflammation of the intestine) and concluded that the experimental jet lag causes an exacerbation of the disease in rodents.
In further joint experiments, they used two experimental approaches. In one group of mice, circadian rhythms were disrupted genetically, damaging the "clock gene" CLOCK. In the second group, the rhythms were shifted naturally, changing the light regime of their content in the vivarium. The authors published the results of their work in the journal PLoS ONE (Summa et al., Disruption of the Circadian Clock in Mice Increases Intestinal Permeability and Promotes Alcohol-Induced Hepatic Pathology and Inflammation).
In both groups, biologists found that mice with a shifted circadian rhythm develop intestinal permeability.
At the next stage, the rodents in each group began to be soldered, providing them with a freely available alcohol solution. After just a week, their intestinal permeability increased compared to the non-alcoholic control. And at the end of the three-month study, mice in both groups developed alcoholic liver disease. A connection was confirmed: a shift in circadian rhythms – a permeable intestine – the destruction of the liver under the influence of alcohol. "Disruption of circadian rhythms is a previously overlooked risk factor that increases the sensitivity of the liver to destruction by alcohol," said Fred Turek.
Scientists have concluded that the combination of circadian rhythm disorders with alcohol hits the liver twice as hard as alcohol alone. Moreover, the violation of circadian rhythms contributed to any inflammatory processes that occur in diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular diseases and other diseases.
"Recent studies have shown that gut bacteria serve as the primary trigger for inflammation, and intestinal permeability is one of the main factors that contribute to this," explains Keshavarzyan. – But the reasons leading to a permeable intestine were unclear. Our work has shown that the failure of circadian rhythms and sleep disorders that often occur in our lives today contribute to this pathology."
In people working the night shift or flying across several time zones), a violation of the normal daily activity regime will lead to serious liver disease if they abuse alcohol, the researchers warn.
They urge doctors and patients to pay more attention to the organization of their lifestyle.
Fred Turek believes that the results of the work can have a global impact on the concept of diagnosis and treatment. "What we have done is to bring the time factor into medicine, which is important for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases," Turek said. – We can already talk about circadian medicine. Bringing the time factor into medicine can radically change it, just as Einstein changed physics with the help of time."
Gennady Sharoikin, "Spontaneous drinking" (1996)
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru03.07.2013