ABSTRACT
Alcohol consumption had been associated with chronic heart disease. The precise mechanisms
of this risk are not always clear. This study was designed to determine the inflammatory
cytokines, myocardial, and homeostatic responses using the levels of circulating interleukin 1β,
(IL-1β), interleukin-10 (IL-10), serum C-reactive protein (CRP), total white blood cell (TLC),
absolute granulocyte counts (AGC), absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC), platelet count (PLT),
creatinine kinase-M (CK-MB), troponin-I (TI), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT)
and prothrombin time (PT). The pre and post research design consists of fifty (50) consented
apparently healthy young male with an average age of 28.3 ± 3.0 years and body mass index of
24.7 ± 1.8 (Kg/m2) who were randomly selected from residents and staff of Nnamdi Azikiwe
University, Nnewi, Nigeria. The subjects were asked to consume 600 ml of any brand of beer
per day for one month as part of a dietary assessment. The blood samples collected in EDTA
(1.5mg/ml) were used for absolute white blood cell count, platelet count (PLT) and total white
blood cell (TLC) count using Sysmex® Automated Hematology Analyzer. Blood anticoagulated
with 0.109 M trisodium citrate (9: 1 v/v) were used for the measurement of activated partial
thromboplastin time and prothrombin time. Serum interleukin 1β, IL-10, serum C-reactive
protein, creatinine kinase-M and troponin-I were evaluated using enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay method. All numerical results were analyzed with student’s t- test using
SPSS version 20.0 statistical program. P values < 0.05 were considered significant. The levels
of IL-1β, IL-10 and CRP were significantly lower at one month post alcohol consumption when
compared with pre stage while the levels of TLC, AGC, ALC, CK-MB, TI, PLT, APTT and PT
shows no significant difference at one month post alcohol consumption when compared with
pre stage. One month alcohol consumption tends to switch the cytokine pattern toward the anti-
inflammatory pattern.
KEYWORDS: Alcohol, cytokine, Alcohol consumption, Nnewi, Nigeria