Liver asialoglycoprotein receptor levels correlate with severity of alcoholic liver damage in rats

It has been demonstrated that the oral administration of ethanol (Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet) to rats results in a decreased expression and content of the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R) in the resultant fatty liver. In the present study, we wanted to determine whether the extent of impaired receptor content was correlated with the severity of liver pathology by using the intragastric feeding model. When ASGP-R protein and mRNA levels were measured in animals infused with ethanol or dextrose in the presence of fish oil (FO) or medium-chain triglyceride as the source of fat, more significant impairments to the ASGP-R were observed in the FO-ethanol group compared with the medium-chain triglyceride-ethanol group. Furthermore, only the FO-ethanol group showed pathological liver changes. These results demonstrate that a correlation exists between the progression of alcohol-associated liver injury, as defined by the severity of liver pathology, and an ethanol-induced decline in ASGP-R content.