S T A N F O R D M E D I C I N E

Volume 17 Number 3 FALL 2000

On the Cover

Admitting Women to Medical School for More than a Century. 

Cover illustration by Janet Woolley.

Stanford Medicine, published quarterly by Stanford University Medical Center, aims to keep readers informed about the education, research, clinical care and other goings on at the Medical Center.

 

  

For the special section for Alumni, click on the link below:
STANFORD
MD
 

a toast to heart health

A CLOSER LOOK AT ALCOHOL'S
PROTECTIVE EFFECTS

 

DARIA MOCHLY-ROSEN, PHD, WASN'T TRYING TO JUSTIFY DRINKING ALCOHOL WHEN SHE LAUNCHED HER ANALYSIS OF THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ROLE OF ENZYME PROTEIN KINASE C. IN FACT, SHE'S NOT MUCH OF A DRINKER HERSELF. Even so, recent research by Mochly-Rosen and her collaborators may have more than one person reaching for the bottle and has already sparked an upcoming clinical trial.

Two years ago, Che-Hong Chen, PhD, a research associate in Mochly-Rosen's laboratory, set out to investigate whether exposure to alcohol a few minutes before a period of oxygen starvation was as protective as long-term tippling. He also explored whether the signaling molecule epsilon (e) PKC was involved in providing the protection.

Chen discovered that short-term exposure to ethanol (present in alcoholic drinks) was surprisingly protective for isolated rat cardiac cells as well as intact hearts. This finding might prove especially useful to people -- such as patients undergoing open-heart surgery -- whose bouts of oxygen deprivation are scheduled events.

Mochly-Rosen's collaborator, Gerald W. Dorn II, MD, plans to test the protective effect of alcohol during cardiac bypass surgery in a clinical trial to start this year at the University of Cincinnati. Dorn hopes the ethanol will protect the heart muscle during this vulnerable time and lead to a higher surgical success rate.

So, should the rest of us who are not at particularly high risk for heart disease begin drinking just to stave off the specter of an eventual attack? The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the American Heart Association both say no. Their official stands are that a person accustomed to moderate consumption of alcohol may experience some cardiac benefit, but that non-drinkers don't need to start "precautionary" drinking. There are too many other health risks related to alcohol consumption to encourage non-drinkers to pick up the bottle.

"Chronic, moderate alcohol intake is protective, but if you exceed those levels you begin to increase the likelihood of other alcohol related health problems," says Mochly-Rosen, noting that moderate intake amounts to three drinks a week for women, and five for men.

"Drinking is not without negative consequences," she says. "It has to be moderate."

But fears of addiction are not what keep Mochly-Rosen away from wine -- or other alcoholic drinks, for that matter.

"I've never really developed a taste for it, so I don't drink it," she says. But then, after a pause, she adds: "Since we've gotten these results, I kind of think that maybe I should start. But I've just not gotten around to it." ­ KRISTA CONGER

Related story:
Hats Off to Alcohol