Synopses & Reviews
Alcohol and other drugs of abuse are major factors in the development of liver disease. Cirrhosis of the liver from alcohol abuse causes thousands of deaths annually in the US. This, in turn, creates a higher demand for liver transplantation. Liver Pathology and Alcohol, the second volume in Humana's new Drug and Alcohol Abuse Reviews series, strives to create a better understanding of the mechanisms of alcohol-induced liver disease, and thus to significantly aid physicians and researchers in the prevention and treatment of liver damage. Chapters focus on a wide variety of topics related to hepatic disease caused by-or due in large part to-the abuse of alcohol and other substances. Topics include: the role of alcohol in changing nutrition • direct nutritional effects of alcohol on the liver • brain-liver relationships • generation of free radicals • the role of free radicals in membrane changes, carcinogenesis, and lipid alterations • liver adaptation to alcohol consumption • influence of alcohol on skeletal muscle • xanthine oxidase • liver enzyme changes • fetal alcohol syndrome • other drugs of abuse, such as morphine, cocaine, marijuana, and caffeine. The prevalence of substance use and abuse in today's society suggests a steady increase in the incidence of liver disease-a major health problem that can only lessen if we become better able to understand and treat it. Ronald R. Watson's timely new volume on Liver Pathology and Alcohol makes a significant contribution to this process.
Review
...the techniques which have been used, the emphasis on free radicals and damage produced by them, are of general pathological interest and this book would certainly not be out of place in a pathology library.-Journal of Medical Microbiology
Table of Contents
Alcohol and Hepatic Iron Homeostasis. The Pathogenesis of Inflammation in Alcoholic Liver Disease. Liver Cell Membrane Adaptation to Chronic Alcohol Consumption. The Effect of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on g-Glutamyl Transpeptidase. Free Radicals and Alcohol Liver Injury. Effects of Ethanol on Glutathione Metabolism. Liver Cancer: Role of Alcohol and Other Factors. Alcohol and Hepatic Protein Modification. Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters, Alcohol, and Liver Changes. Ethanol, Lipoprotein, Metabolism, and Fatty Liver. Effect of Ethanol on Splanchnic Blood Flow. Interaction of Ethanol and the Glucocorticoids: Effects on Hepatic Gene Expression. Genetic and Dietary Control of Alcohol Degradation in Drosophila: Role in Cell Damage. Human Liver Alcohol Dehydrogenase Gene Expression: Retinoic Acid Homeostasis and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Influence of Ethanol on Functional and Biochemical Characteristics of Skeletal Muscle. Alcohol and Liver Damage: Xanthine Oxidase. Polymorphisms of Alcohol and Aldehyde Dehydrogenases and Their Significance for Alcohol Liver Diseases. Effects of Alcohol and Cocaine Abuse on the Antioxidant Systems, Nutritional Status, and Liver Damage. Caffeine Metabolism: Disposition in Liver Disease and Hepatic-Function Testing. Marijuana, Liver Enzymes, and Toxicity. In Vivo Microscopy of the Effects of Ethanol on the Liver. Interrelationships Between the Brain and the Liver. Morphine and Liver Damage. Index.