The effect of ethanol on the mechanisms of liver antioxidant defence – a review of rodent model studies

The consumption of ethanol disturbs oxida-tive-reductive balance in the liver leading to oxidative stress, which plays an glutathione, as well as increased activity of glutathione reductase, while in the case of catalase and glutathione peroxidise, depending on the study, there is either an increase or decrease of these enzymes activity in the liver. This may be due to the age and gender of animals, different experimental conditions, exposure time, ethanol solution dosage and concentration as well as the methods of administration of the ethanol solution. It should be noted that the experiments were conducted mainly on male rats or mice, which, compared to females, are less susceptible to alcohol-induced damage, and more to oxidative stress, which may have also affected the observed results.