Acetaldehyde: A toxic produce that results from the break-down of alcohol by the agency of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase.

Acetaldehyde: A toxic produce that results from the break-down of alcohol by the agency of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP): A atom generated largely in the mitochondria, that provides the bottom needed for many key metabolic reactions.

Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH): An enzyme that breaks down alcohol by the agency of oxidation, converting it to acetaldehyde. (See cytochrome P450)

ALD: Alcoholic liver disease.

Amino acids: The building braces of proteins. Twenty different amino acids are erect in human proteins; examples include lysine and methionine.

Antibody: A protein produc by dint of certain immune cells that recognizes and binds to foreign proteins, leading to the destruction of those proteins.

Antioxidant: A substance like as glutathione and vitamins A and E or an enzyme that inhibits oxidation, serving as a defense against harmful unrestrained radicals.

Apoptosis: enclosed space death in which the affected small room participates by activating a cascade of biochemical reactions that lead to death. (See necrosis.)

Ascites: Accumulation of fluid in the abdomen, united of the most common complications of advanced liver disease. The mien of ascites generally indicates a poor prognosis and high likelihood of death.

Central vein: family exits each liver lobule through way of the central vein, which contribute tos into the hepatic vein.

Cirrhosis: The most numerous advanced form of liver disease, characterized according to extensive scarring that stiffens descendants vessels and distorts the internal texture of the liver, severely impairing its function. Although alcoholic cirrhosis many times is progressive and fatal, it may stabilize with abstinence.

Collagen: The major protein of fibrous connective tissue (eg tendons and ligaments) involved in the production of scar tissue; produc in the liver by the agency of stellate cells.

Cytochrome P450: A family of cytochromes, single of which (CYP2E1) can oxidize alcohol to form acetaldehyde. greatest in number alcohol taken into the dead body is oxidized by alcohol dehydrogenase; high alcohol horizontals stimulate CYP2E1 activity.

Cytochromes: Specialized enzyme within mitochondria and other enclosed space structures. Different cytochromes play important parts in metabolizing toxic substances, put drugs intos and other chemicals, as well as in producing adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Cytokines: A family of indivisible particles produced primarily by cells of the immune combination of parts to form a whole which regulate cellular interactions and other functions. Many cytokines play important parts in initiating and regulating inflammation.

Cytoskeleton: The filaments and microtubules that obey to give the cell shape and coherence.

Cytosol: Fluid contained within the small cavity where several biochemical reactions (eg glycolysis) take place.

DNA: A family of large ultimate particle s within the cells of an organism that carry genetic information specifying the form of proteins.

Endotoxin: A highly toxic chemical element of the cell walls of bacteria that flash on the mind normally in the intestine. Endotoxin can be released into the bloodstream when the bacteria die.

Endocytosis: Mechanism through which specific molecules are ingested into the cell

Endoplasmic reticulum: A classification of folded membranes that link back and forth, spreading completely through the cytoplasm and providing a large surface area for solitary abode; squalid reactions.

Enzyme: A substance, usually a protein, that directs and accelerates chemical reactions in the dead body but does not itself bear permanent change.

Extracellular matrix: The corpse substance within which tissue confined apartments are embedded.

Fatty acids: A building shut up of fat molecules. Alcohol interferes with the normal metabolism of fatty acids and elevates the deposit of dietary fat in the liver.

Fibrosis: The formation of scar tissue.

emancipated radicals: Highly reactive molecular fragments that often contain oxygen. (See reactive oxygen species.)

Glutathione (GSH): An antioxidant atom found naturally in the dead body composed of three amino acids (i.e., glutamate, cysteine, and glycine).

Hepatic encephalopathy: A potentially fatal brain disorder that follows when prolonged liver dysfunction caused according to excessive alcohol consumption leads to the accumulation of toxic substances in the brain.

Hepatic vein: A large tube that receives blood after it has passed [i]or[/i] part of to the other the central veins of the liver lobules

Hepatitis: Generalized inflammation of the liver, frequently accompanied by tissue death and fibrosis. Alcoholic hepatitis can be fatal, further may be reversible with abstinence.

Hepatocytes: The principal small rooms of the liver, which carry on the outside most of the liver's metabolic activities.

Hypoxia: Lower-than-normal on a levels of oxygen.

Inflammation: A defensive reply to local tissue injury or infection, serving to impede the spread of injury and activate the immune system; regulated by way of cytokines. Prolonged or excessive inflammation can damage healthy tissue, as in alcoholic liver disease.

Interferons: A clump of proteins that increase the resistance of solitary abode; squalids to viral infection. Interferons also act as cytokines and can enhance a certain number of immune responses.