Department of Forensic Medicine and Institute of Forensic Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. yoosh@snu.ac.kr

To study alcohol-related expressed proteins across postmortem livers, human liver tissues from two cadaveric subjects died of acute alcohol abuse and myocardialinfarct were compared. Liver tissues were separated by means of immobilized pH gradient- two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and Coomassie staining. Out of the differentially expressed proteins in 2-DE, four differential spots, which were strongly expressed in alcohol intoxication but faint in normal tissue, were selected and analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis revealed these spots were mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase precursor protein and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutarylcoenzyme A synthase 2, respectively. Aldehyde dehydrogenase is the second-step enzyme for alcohol metabolism. 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-Coenzyme A synthase 2 is a key regulatory enzyme in the pathway for endogenous cholesterol synthesis. These preliminary data could suggest that the lipid metabolism-related protein as well as alcohol metabolic enzyme was expressed in acute alcohol abuse (binge drinking). Furthermore, it appears that proteomic tool would be applied for postmortem examination in the diagnosis of acute alcohol abuse.

Key words : postmortem, liver, aldehyde dehydrogenase, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-Coenzyme A synthase 2

Original article