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Suppression of hematopoietic-progenitor-cell proliferation by ethanol and acetaldehyde. N Engl J Med 1982 Sep 30;307(14):845-9

Date

09/30/1982

Pubmed ID

7110259

DOI

10.1056/NEJM198209303071402

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0019982642 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   82 Citations

Abstract

The effects of alcohol on bone marrow are not well understood. We measured the influence of ethanol and its metabolite, acetaldehyde, on the in vitro proliferation of hematopoietic progenitor cells from mice and human beings. Colony formation by both early and late erythroid progenitor cells was suppressed by concentrations of ethanol (0.05 to 0.2 per cent) that are easily achieved in vivo. The corresponding suppressing concentration of acetaldehyde was 0.001 per cent. In contrast, suppression of granulocyte/macrophage progenitor cells required 3.0 per cent ethanol or 0.03 per cent acetaldehyde. Spleen colony formation by pluripotent stem cells was resistant to concentrations of ethanol and acetaldehyde that suppressed in vitro colony formation of committed myeloid and erythroid progenitor cells by 50 per cent. The suppression of both myeloid and erythroid colony formation was partially reversed by supplementing the cultures with folinic acid or pyridoxine. These data provide an explanation for the preferential suppression of erythropoiesis observed clinically in ethanol abuse. They also suggest that acetaldehyde has a role in ethanol-mediated bone-marrow suppression.

Author List

Meagher RC, Sieber F, Spivak JL

Author

Fritz Sieber PhD Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Acetaldehyde
Animals
Bone Marrow
Cells, Cultured
Colony-Forming Units Assay
Depression, Chemical
Erythropoiesis
Ethanol
Female
Folic Acid
Granulocytes
Hematopoiesis
Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Humans
Macrophages
Mice
Pyridoxine
Spleen