Age-related effects of chronic ethanol intake on physical properties, lipid composition and galactosyltransferase activity of rat small intestine microsomes

The effect of a 4-week ethanol administration on: (I) glycoprotein content of brush herder membrane (BBM): (2) galactosyltransferase activity: (3) lipid composition and fluidity of intestinal microsomes prepared from young and adult rats was investigated. In spite of a lower alcohol consumption. the more dramatic effects of treatment have been observed in the older rats. where BBM protein-bound hexoses and microsomal galoctosyltransferase activity were significantly decreased. On the contrary. these parameters were unaffected in young rats. However. both rat groups were similarly affected in having their microsomal cholesterol contents significantly increased. Microsomal membranes from ethanol-fed adult rats were less fluid compared to control rats: the high fluorescence anisotropy value could be related to the high cholesterol/phospholipid ratio and to the decrease of the unsaturated fatty acids C22:4 and C22:6.