Distinct peroxisome populations differentially respond to alcohol-associated hepatic injury.

Although peroxisomes are known to oxidize ethanol, metabolize lipids, and regulate oxidative stress, they remain understudied in the context of ethanol-induced liver injury. We examined peroxisome early responses to alcohol-induced oxidative stress and lipid overload. Analysis of peroxisomes labeled with catalase, an ethanol oxidizing enzyme, or ABCD3, a fatty acid transporter, revealed that distinct peroxisome populations differentially respond to ethanol. We determined that ethanol exposure induced a reversible, time-dependent, saturable increase in functional peroxisomes labeled with either marker. This increase was due to ethanol-induced oxidative stress. In cells treated with oleic acid (to mimic fatty liver), only ABCD3-positive peroxisomes proliferated, and preferentially colocalized with lipid droplets in cells treated with oleic acid alone and/or with ethanol. In cells overexpressing the tubulin-specific acetyltransferase, αTAT1, we determined that peroxisome-lipid droplet contacts were mediated by acetylated microtubules. Peroxisome proliferation was also observed in ethanol-fed mouse and rat livers, but was absent in fibrotic mouse models of liver injury and in samples from individuals with alcohol-induced cirrhosis suggesting that alcohol exposure promotes an early hepatoprotective rise in peroxisomes that is lost as the condition progresses to fibrosis. Our studies further suggest that PPAR agonists may be an effective intervention for early ethanol-associated liver disease.