Vitamin D Deficiency Aggravates Hepatic Oxidative Stress and Inflammation during Chronic Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury in Mice

• Main Authors: Chun-Qiu Hu, Qing-Li Bo, Lan-Lan Chu, Yong-Di Hu, Lin Fu, Guo-Xiu Wang, Yan Lu, Xiao-Jing Liu, Hua Wang, De-Xiang Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2020-01-01
• Series: Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/5715893

Vitamin D deficiency has been reported in alcoholics. This study is aimed at evaluating the effects of vitamin D deficiency on chronic alcohol-induced liver injury in mice. Mice were fed with modified Lieber-DeCarli liquid diets for 6 weeks to establish an animal model of chronic alcohol-induced liver injury. In the VDD+EtOH group, mice were fed with modified diets, in which vitamin D was depleted. Vitamin D deficiency aggravated alcohol-induced liver injury. Furthermore, vitamin D deficiency aggravated hepatocyte apoptosis during alcohol-induced liver injury. Although it has a little effect on hepatic TG content, vitamin D deficiency promoted alcohol-induced hepatic GSH depletion and lipid peroxidation. Further analysis showed that vitamin D deficiency further increased alcohol-induced upregulation of hepatic inducible nitric oxide synthase (inos), two NADPH oxidase subunits p47phox and gp91phox, and heme oxygenase- (HO-) 1. By contrast, vitamin D deficiency attenuated alcohol-induced upregulation of hepatic antioxidant enzyme genes, such as superoxide dismutase (sod) 1 and gshpx. In addition, vitamin D deficiency significantly elevated alcohol-induced upregulation of hepatic proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Taken together, these results suggest that vitamin D deficiency aggravates hepatic oxidative stress and inflammation during chronic alcohol-induced liver injury.