Epidemiological and histopathological study of relevance of Guizhou Maotai liquor and liver diseases

AIM：To explore the relevance of Maotai liquor and liver diseases.METHODS:Epidemiological study was conducted on groups of subjects,each consisting of 3 subjects from the Maotai liquor roup consisting of 99 individuals and one from the non-alcoholic control group consisting of 33 individuals Liver biopsy was performed on 23 volunteere from Guizhou Maotai Distillery who had a constant and long history of drinking Maotai liquor.Experimental histopathological study was conducted as follows:Sixty male Wistar rate were divided into 3 groups randomly and fed with Maotai liquor,ordinary white wine,and physiological saline respectively for a period of 8and 12 weeks,The rats were sacrificed in batches,then serum ALT,AST,TBil,and AKP were measured.Rat livers were harvested to Measure the liver indexes GSH,and MDA.Histopathological examinations were also performed.Another eighty mice were randomly divided into 4 groups and fed with Maotai(at different dosages of 10ml.kg^-1 and 20ml.kg^-1),ethanol,and physiological saline.The animals were sacrificed after 4 weeks and serum ALT was determined ,Then the livers were harvested and liver indexes and MDA were measured.RESULTS:The incidence rate of hepatic symptoms splenomegaly,liver function impairment,reversal of Albumin/Globulin and increased diameter of portal verins in the Maotai liquor group were 1.0%(1/99),1.0%(1/99),1.0%(1/99),1.0%(1/99),9(9/99)and 9(0/99),0(0/99),0(0/99),0(0/99),0(0/99),respectively,There was no significant difference between the Maotai group[ and the non-alcoholic control group(P>0\05),Various degree of fatty infiltration of hepatocytes was found in the 23 volunteers receiving liver biopsy.but there was no obvious hepatic fibrosis or cirrhosis.A comparison was made between the Maotai liquor group and the ordinary white wine group,It was found that hepatic MAD in rats and mice,were 0.33±0.10and 0.49±0.23respectively in Maotai group and 0.61±0.22and 0.66±0.32inthe ordinary white wine group;MDA had an obvious decrease in the Maotai liquor group(P<0.05)hepatic GSH were 0.12mg.g^-1±0.06mg.g^-1 in rats of the Maotai liquor group and (0.08±0.02)mg.g^-1 in white wine group,it was obviously increased in the Maotai liquor group(P<0.05),Atfer the 20 rats had been fed with ordinary white wine for 8 Weeks consecutively,disarranged hepatocyte cords,fatty infiltration of hepatocytes,and fibrous septa of varying widths due to hepatic connective tissues proliferation were observed;after 12 weeks,the fibrous tissue proliferation continued and early cirrhosis appeared.COmpared with the ordinary whtite wine group fatty infiltration was observed in the 8-week and 12-week groups,but no necrosis or filbrosis or cirrhosis was found in the Maotai liquor group(P<0.05）。CONCLUSION:Maotai liquor may cause fatty liver but not hepatic fibrosis or cirrhosis,and it can strengthen lipid peroxidation in the liver。

Effect of Maotai liquor in inducing metallothioneins and on hepatic stellate cells

AIM: To explore the possible mechanism why drinkingMaotai liquor dose not cause hepatic fibrosis.METHODS: After being fed with Maotai for 56 daysconsecutively, the male SD rats were decollated fordetecting the biological indexes, and the livers wereharvested to examine the liver indexes and the level ofhepatic metallothioneins (MT). Hepatic stellate cells (HSC)proliferation and collagen generation were also observed.RESULTS: Hepatic MT contents were 216.0 ng@g1 + 10.8 ng@g1 in the rats of Maotai group and 10.0 ng@g-1 ± 2.8 ng@g1 inthe normal control group, which was increased obviously inMaotain group ( P ＜ 0.05). In the rats with grade CCL2poisoning induced by Maotai, hepatic MT content was 304.8ng@ g1 + 12.1 ng@ g-1 whereas in the controls with grade CCL4poisoning, it was 126.4 ng@g-1 +4.8 ng@g-1(P＜0.05).MDAwas 102.0 nmol@ g-1 + 3.4 nmol@ g-1 in Maotai group and 150.8nmol@ g-1 + 6.7 nmol@ g1 in the control group ( P ＜ 0.05).When both of the groups were suffering from grade CCL4poisoning, hepatic MT contents was negatively correlatedwithMDA (r=-0.8023, n=20, P＜0.01). The 570 nmAvalues of each tube with HSC regeneration at concentrationsof 0, 10, 50, 100, and 200g@L-1 of Maotai were 0.818, 0.742,0.736, 0.72, 0.682, and 0.604, respectively. From theconcentration of 10 g@ L1, Maotai began to show obviousinhibitory effects against HSC, and the inhibition wasconcentration-dependent (P＜0.05, P＜ 0.01). Type Icollagen contents in HSC were 61.4, 59.9, 50.1, 49.2, 48.7,34.4μg@g1 at concentrations of 0, 10, 50, 100, and 200g@ L-1of Maotai. At the concentration of 100-200 g@L-1, Maotai hadobvious inhibitory effect against the secretion of type Icollagen (P ＜ 0. 05 ). Gene expression analysis wasconducted on cells with Maotai concentrations of 0, 50, 100g@L-1 respectively and the ash values of β-actin geneexpression were 0. 88, 0. 74, and 0. 59, respectively,suggesting that at the concentration of 100 g@ L-1 , Maotaicould obviously inhibit gene expression of type I procollagen(P＜ 0.05), but the effect was not obvious at theconcentration of 50 g@L-1(P＞0.05). At the concentration of10 g@L-1, HSC growth in vitro inhibition rates were 16.4+2.3 inMaotai group and-8.4+ 2.3 in the control group (P＜0.05).CONCLUSION: Maotai Iiluor can increase metatlothioneins inthe liver and inhibit the activation of HSC and the synthesisof collagen in many aspects, which might be the mechanismthat Maotai liquor interferes in the hepatic fibrosis.

Biosorption of lead by Phanerochaete chrysosporium in the form of pellets

The growth of Phanerochaete chrysosporium (ATCC 24725) in pellets was influenced by culture time, medium pH, C/N, surfactant concentration, spore number in inoculum, and shaking rate. The removal of Pb 2+ from aqueous solution by this kind of mycelial pellets was studied. The results indicated that many factors affected biosorption. These factors included pH, Pb 2+ concentration, co ion, adsorption time, and chemical pretreatments of biomass. Under optimum biosorption conditions(pH 4 5, 27℃, 16h), the highest lead uptake of 108 mg/g, was observed with mycelial pellets of 1 5-1 7 mm in diameter which were treated with 0 1 mol/L NaOH solution before adsorption. Pretreatment of biomass with NaOH further increased its biosorption capacity.