Five-week-old male mice, C3H/HeNCrj (C3H/He), were given a 5% (v/v)
ethanol solution, commercial alcoholic beverages (Japanese sake (sake) or red wine) or a Japanese seasoning (
mirin [containing
ethanol and a large amount of
glucose]) ad libitum for 45 d, and were then examined for changes in the hepatic
enzymes related to
ethanol metabolism 2 h after
oral administration of 5 g of
ethanol/kg
body weight. The specific activity of
aniline hydroxylase (ANH) in the hepatic microsome increased significantly in all groups chronically administered
ethanol solution, sake, red wine or
mirin, and the greatest increase was in the hepatic microsome of
mirin-administered mice. The
cytochrome P-450 (
CYP) 2E1 increased in the hepatic microsome of the mice administered
ethanol solution, red wine or
mirin where accompanied by high ANH activity. The immunoreactive band for
CYP1A1 showed high specificity in the microsome of mice given sake, red wine or
mirin. It was assumed that
CYP1A1 was induced by unknown component(s) other than
ethanol in these solutions. In the cytosolic fraction, following the chronic administration of sake and
mirin, the total
aldehyde dehydrogenase (A1DH) activity with high-Km decreased significantly. In the mitochondrial fraction, the activity of high-Km A1DH increased significantly in the
mirin-administered mice which drank a large amount of
ethanol, whereas that in the red wine-administered group tended to decrease. These results indicate that the
enzyme activities related to the oxidation of both
ethanol and
acetaldehyde in the cytosolic, mitochondrial and microsomal fractions of the liver were affected by either the action of
ethanol or its interaction with other constituents of sake, red wine and
mirin.