| Prolonged alcohol consumption has consequences on the liver, producing necrotic precipitates and fibrosis, on the pancreas, causing the pancreatic acini to atrophy and destroying insulin-producing cells, and on the central nervous system (CNS), causing the gray and white matter in the frontal lobes of the brain and cerebellum to atrophy. Generally, alcohol is metabolized via oxidative pathways, where the enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase participate during its metabolization in the liver and CNS, or via non-oxidative pathways during its metabolization in the pancreas. Ethanol metabolism can produce oxidative stress and tissue damage mediated by free radicals, causing morphological and functional alterations in the liver. In the... |
