The kidney tubules play an important role in keeping the body’s water and electrolyte levels in equilibrium. In many cases, control mechanisms govern the rate of reabsorption or secretion in response to the body’s fluctuating needs (see table for a summary of the body processes influenced by key electrolytes). Under the influence of antidiuretic hormone (ADH), for example, the tubules can create either a concentrated urine, to discharge excess solutes and conserve water, or a dilute urine, to remove extra water from body fluids.
Abnormal immunoreaction and renal tubular dysfunction to alcohol consumption
These disturbances increase the kidneys’ workload in restoring acid-base balance through formation of an acidic or basic (i.e., alkaline) urine. For instance, the opposite of respiratory alkalosis can occur when a person becomes extremely intoxicated. Because alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, it may slow the rate of breathing as well as reduce the brain’s how alcohol affects the kidneys respiratory center’s sensitivity to carbon dioxide levels. As a result, excess carbon dioxide accumulates, and the body’s acid level subsequently increases. Respiratory acidosis is rare but carries an ominous prognosis when it occurs. Another study with dogs (Beard et al. 1965) disclosed that the effects of chronic alcohol consumption endured even longer.
- Protein acetylation—adding an acetyl group to a protein—is integral to regulating processes controlled by mitochondria, including fatty acid metabolism and antioxidant defense (Choudhary et al. 2014).
- Reducing alcohol intake can lessen the risk of alcohol-related kidney disease.
- Heavy drinking is more than three drinks per day (or seven per week) for women, and more than four drinks per day (or 14 per week) for men.
- Research shows that poor sleep quality and disrupted sleep raise heart rate, heart rate variability, and blood pressure while you sleep, which can stress the heart and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy: Another Potential Confounder
The investigators noted increased plasma and extracellular fluid volume 1 week after chronic alcohol ingestion, and these volume expansions persisted for the remaining 7 weeks of the study. Similar alterations have been found in body fluid volumes among chronic alcoholic patients. Alcohol-induced intestinal damage and increased mucosal translocation of bacterial endotoxin are crucial in the initiation and progression of alcoholic liver injury and in the pathogenesis of other alcohol-related diseases (Bala et al. 2014; Purohit et al. 2008). (For an in-depth discussion of alcohol and the digestive tract, see the article by Keshavarzian in this issue.) The direct role of alcohol-related endotoxin release in alcoholic kidney injury has not yet been studied. However, it is possible that activation of the innate immune system due to endotoxins released by a leaky gut plays a central role in the development of renal damage, as it does for liver damage (Zhang et al. 2008).
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The traditional hypothesis holds that the kidneys of cirrhotic patients retain sodium in response to ascites that develops when liver dysfunction causes blood vessels to expand beyond available plasma volume (i.e., the “underfill” theory). In contrast, the “overflow” theory postulates that ascites https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/diabetes-and-alcohol-can-diabetics-get-drunk/ follows when the kidneys retain sodium in response to signals sent by a dysfunctional liver to expand plasma volume. The answer to this version of the “chicken-and-egg” question remains to be elucidated. Like the kidneys, the liver plays an important role in maintaining acid-base balance.
You may need to take a complete break from alcohol for a set amount of time or reduce the amount of alcohol you consume. To treat liver disease, you may be advised to stop drinking alcohol, lose weight, and follow a nutritional diet. Kidneys are essential to keeping the body healthy and free of harmful substances such as alcohol. You may have kidney pain after drinking alcohol due to dehydration or inflammation of your stomach lining. But it can also happen if you have other health conditions, including a kidney infection.
The findings of this study suggest that the observed cardioprotective effects of light to moderate alcohol intake may be largely mediated by confounding lifestyle factors. In fact, IgA glomerulonephritis—acute inflammation of the kidney caused by an IgA immune response—is one of the most common types of primary glomerulonephritis worldwide (D’Amico 1987). This IgA-related kidney disease leads to clinical symptoms of renal injury and eventually progresses into renal failure (Amore et al. 1994; Bene et al. 1988; Pouria and Feehally 1999). Experimental studies suggest that heavy alcohol consumption induces IgA kidney disease (Smith et al. 1990).
- Another study by Plotnikov and colleagues (2009) showed that mitochondria isolated from rat kidneys were damaged by oxidative stress when incubated with myoglobin.
- “We do know that people who don’t drink enough fluids have a greater chance of developing kidney stones.” So, people who drink heavily and are often dehydrated may be at greater risk — though the science of alcohol’s role in kidney stones is still unclear, he adds.
- The kidneys are the body’s primary tool for filtering out dangerous substances, so issues affecting the kidneys can quickly affect the rest of the body, potentially causing problems in multiple organs.
In the absence of ADH, segments of the kidney’s tubule system become impermeable to water, thus preventing it from being reabsorbed into the body. Under these conditions, the urine formed is dilute and electrolyte concentration in the blood simultaneously rises. Although increased serum electrolyte concentration normally activates secretion of ADH so that fluid balance can be restored, a rising blood alcohol level disrupts this regulatory response by suppressing ADH secretion into the blood. Normally the rate of blood flow, or perfusion, (i.e., hemodynamics) through the kidneys is tightly controlled, so that plasma can be filtered and substances the body needs can be reabsorbed under optimal circumstances (see sidebar). Established liver disease impairs this important balancing act, however, by either greatly augmenting or reducing the rates of plasma flow and filtration through the glomerulus. Investigators have not yet fully explained the mechanisms underlying this wide range of abnormalities, though, and have devoted little attention to alcohol’s effects on kidney hemodynamics in people who do not have liver disease.