DISTURBANCES IN MYOCARDIAL CREATINE-KINASE FOLLOWING ETHANOL ADMINISTRATION TO RATS - TRIALS OF PREVENTION BY ALLOPURINOL, DESFERRIOXAMINE AND PROPRANOLOL

A significant decrease in myocardial creatine kinase (CK) activity is apparent 2 hr after an acute ethanol load (2.3 g/kg, i.p.) in the rat. A lower dose (1.15 g/kg, i.p.), as well as ethanol addition in vitro up to 50 mM, do not affect this activity. Pretreatments with allopurinol (146-mu-mol/kg, i.p.) given at 16 hr and at 30 min before ethanol (2.3 g/kg) or with desferrioxamine (152-mu-mol/kg, i.p.) 30 min before ethanol failed to prevent the ethanol-induced decrease in CK activity. By contrast, propranolol (17-mu-mol/kg, i.p.), administered 30 min before ethanol elicited an enhanced (CK activity in both control and ethanol-treated rats. This finding is likely related to the beta-blocking action and/or antioxidant properties of propranolol. Chronic ethanol intake (18% in calories) for 4 weeks also induced a decrease in myocardial CK activity, which could play a role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic cardiomyopathy.