Effect of administered ethanol on protein kinase C in human platelets

There are numerous reports of the effect of ethanol on protein kinase C (PKC) in animals or with in vitro systems. However, the effect of ethanol on PKC in humans has not been extensively investigated despite the large number of studies involving PKC and human platelets. In this study, we administered ethanol to human volunteers and determined the level of PKC before and after a 0.4 g/kg dose of ethanol. We studied Native Americans and Caucasians of both sexes. There was an increase in PKC activity 60 min after ethanol administration. There were no ethnic, age, nor gender differences detected, nor was there any correlation between family history of alcoholism and the basal or stimulated platelet PKC levels. Neither was there any correlation of basal or stimulated PKC activity with the genotypes for ADH2, ADH3, ALDH2, CYP2E1, and CYP1A2.