Acute Binge Drinking Increases Serum Endotoxin and Bacterial DNA Levels in Healthy Individuals
Open accessAbstract
Binge drinking, the most common form of alcohol consumption, is associated with increased mortality and morbidity; yet, its biological consequences are poorly defined. Previous studies demonstrated that chronic alcohol use results in increased gut permeability and increased serum endotoxin levels that contribute to many of the biological effects of chronic alcohol, including alcoholic liver disease. In this study, we evaluated the effects of acute binge drinking in healthy adults on serum endotoxin levels. We found that acute alcohol binge resulted in a rapid increase in serum endotoxin and 16S rDNA, a marker of bacterial translocation from the gut. Compared to men, women had higher blood alcohol and circulating endotoxin levels. In addition, alcohol binge caused a prolonged increase in acute phase protein levels in the systemic circulation. The biological significance of the in vivo endotoxin elevation was underscored by increased levels of inflammatory cytokines, TNFα and IL-6, and chemokine, MCP-1, measured in total blood after in vitro lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Our findings indicate that even a single alcohol binge results in increased serum endotoxin levels likely due to translocation of gut bacterial products and disturbs innate immune responses that can contribute to the deleterious effects of binge drinking.
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Chronic alcohol consumption and binge drinking increase serum endotoxin and cytokine levels, which might contribute to long-term cognitive deficits.
“Chronic alcohol consumption and binge drinking increase serum endotoxin and cytokine levels [106], which might contribute to long-term cognitive deficits.”
From The endotoxin hypothesis of neurodegeneration (2019) · cites this paper as [106]
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References 22 · Cited by 311
- Authors
- Bala, S., Marcos, M., Gattu, A., Catalano, D., & Szabo, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (US)
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2014-05-14
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e96864
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4020790
- OpenAlex
- W2103489728
- Cited by
- 311
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 43 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 25.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship@UMassChan (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (#AA011576, R01AA011576)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune Response and Inflammation
- Keywords
- binge drinking, acute alcohol consumption, serum endotoxin, intestinal permeability, bacterial translocation, 16S rRNA gene, sex differences, acute phase proteins, inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, interleukin-6, MCP-1, innate immunity, lipopolysaccharide stimulation, healthy adults
- MeSH terms
- Acute-Phase Proteins, Adult, Ethanol, DNA, Bacterial, Female, Humans, Intestinal Mucosa, Intestines, Lipopolysaccharides, Male, Middle Aged, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Sex Factors, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Interleukin-6, Case-Control Studies, Chemokine CCL2, Bacterial Translocation, Binge Drinking
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