Abstract
Alcohol drinking may exercise both beneficial and untoward
effects on the haemostatic and fibrinolytic systems. It may also
predispose individuals to arterial thrombosis and trigger embolism in
the brain. The aim here is to examine these problems.
Methods used for evaluating platelet function were platelet
aggregation and associated thromboxane B2 release,
shear-induced platelet aggregation, and measurement of urinary prostaglandins.
Changes in fibrinolytic system were evaluated by measuring plasminogen
activator inhibitor type 1. The combined effects of alcohol drinking,
physical exercise, eating a meal and circadian rhythms in healthy
volunteers were examined in three experimental studies. Case-control studies
were used for assessing the mechanism and etiology of ischaemic
brain infarction triggered during alcohol intoxication.
Alcohol drinking did not potentiate the effects of physical
exercise on platelet function. Sleeping while under acute intoxication
resulted in a significant activation of platelets, as shown by increased urinary
excretion of a thromboxane metabolite. On the other hand, ingestion
of a moderate dose of red wine seemed to attenuate platelet aggregation
measured ex vivo, irrespective of whether the
wine was consumed with a meal or alone. However, both red wine and
a larger acute dose of alcohol in fruit juice inhibited fibrinolytic
activity.
In a case-control study, platelet count and function were
evaluated in 426 consecutive patients hospitalized on account of
acute brain infarction. Compared with the hospital-based controls,
a higher than normal platelet count was observed immediately after
admission. Heavy drinkers showed both higher and lower than normal
platelet counts more often than the other patients with brain infarction. The
changes in platelet function among the heavy drinkers reflected
their recent drinking habits.
Another case-control study indicated that recent heavy drinking
of alcohol was an independent risk factor for cardiogenic embolism
to the brain. Recent heavy drinking also seemed to predispose subjects
to some other types of ischaemic brain infarction such as artery
to artery embolism due to large-artery atherosclerosis and cryptogenic
stroke, but these observations need to be confirmed in larger studies.
In conclusion, the results show some untoward effects of acute
heavy drinking of alcohol, which could contribute to the onset of
brain infarction either as triggering or as predisposing factors.
On the other hand, drinking of a moderate dose of red wine did not
have any clear untoward effect on healthy human volunteers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:oulo.fi/oai:oulu.fi:isbn951-42-5722-7 |
| Date | 27 July 2000 |
| Creators | Numminen, H. (Heikki) |
| Publisher | University of Oulu |
| Source Sets | University of Oulu |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, © University of Oulu, 2000 |
| Relation | info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/0355-3221, info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1796-2234 |
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