Characterization of a Dietary Ethanol Protocol for Cyp2e1 Induction in the CD-1 Mouse without Evident

Although the CD-1 mouse strain has been used to investigate the toxicity of numerous substrates of Cyp2e1, limited information is available about responses of this strain to ethanol, a potent and clinically relevant inducer of this cytochrome P450 isozyme. Our goal was to characterize a dietary ethanol protocol for greater than threefold induction of hepatic Cyp2e1 in CD-1 mice without con-founding alterations to other biotransformation enzymes or injury to known target tissues. Female CD-1 mice were fed the Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet containing 1.4 to 6.4 % ethanol (v/v) for time periods of 1 to 12 weeks. A series of range- nding experiments in-dicated that the stock 6.4 % ethanol diet caused rapid weight loss, whereas dietary ethanol concentrations less than or equal to 3.2% produced inadequate (i.e., less than threefold) induction of hep-atic Cyp2e1. Suitable responses were observed in mice fed a 4.1% ethanol diet, namely, body weight gain equivalent to both pair-fe