The Liver-Brain Axis of Alcohol-Mediated Neurodegeneration: Role of Toxic Lipids

Suzanne M. De la Monte, Lisa Longato, Ming Tong, Sarah DeNucci and Jack R. Wands
Additional contact information
Suzanne M. De la Monte: Division of Neuropathology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
Lisa Longato: The Liver Research Center, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
Ming Tong: Division of Gastroenterology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
Sarah DeNucci: Department of Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
Jack R. Wands: Division of Gastroenterology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

IJERPH, 2009, vol. 6, issue 7, 1-21

Abstract: Alcohol abuse causes progressive toxicity and degeneration in liver and brain due to insulin resistance, which exacerbates oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory cytokine activation. Alcohol-induced steatohepatitis promotes synthesis and accumulation of ceramides and other toxic lipids that cause insulin resistance. Ceramides can readily cross the blood-brain barrier, and ceramide exposure causes neurodegeneration with insulin resistance and oxidative stress, similar to the effects of alcohol. Therefore, in addition to its direct neurotoxic effects, alcohol misuse establishes a liver-brain axis of neurodegeneration mediated by toxic lipid trafficking across the blood-brain barrier, leading to progressive white matter degeneration and cognitive impairment.

Keywords: ethanol; insulin resistance; ceramides; neurodegeneration; alcoholic liver disease; steatohepatitis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/6/7/2055/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/6/7/2055/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:6:y:2009:i:7:p:2055-2075:d:5408

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().