Ethanol potentiates lead-induced inhibition of rat brain antioxidant defense systems.

We investigated the effect of alcohol (3 g/kg body weight intragastrically) on lead-induced (50 mg/kg body weight intragastrically) oxidative stress in adult rat brain. Ethanol was found to potentiate the accumulation of lead in the rat brain by 100%. Lead and ethanol in combination also enhanced lipid peroxidation, a deteriorative process of biomembranes, and markedly decreased the antioxidant capacity of neuronal cells in terms of reduced activities of antioxidant enzymes i.e., superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase. Further, the activity of glutathione reductase was also significantly decreased in lead and ethanol co-exposed animals as compared to only lead-treated animals, which had altered glutathione status. The results of the present study show that ethanol makes the adult rat brain more susceptible to the neurotoxic effects of lead by accentuating the oxidative stress induced by lead.