Comment · Thu, January 15, 2015 · Ceretropic
N-acetylcysteine inhibits the up-regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis genes in livers from rats fed ethanol chronically (2014)
What they were answering
shrillthrill · 5 points
Hmm.
Shouldn't the study suggest that NAC would also fail to protect the mitochondria from oxidative stress under acute alcohol, and only combat extra-mitochondrial oxidative stress?
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
That study does not show it, but others seem to indicate that it does protect from intracellular oxidative species acutely.
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/9/125.pdf
Although that protection only happens if NAC is taken concurrently or before alcohol consumption. If taken after alcohol consumption, it actually makes the oxidative stress worse.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1386634605004766
Correspondingly, pretreatment with NAC significantly attenuated acute ethanol-induced lipid peroxidation and GSH depletion and inhibited hepatic TNF-α mRNA expression. By contrast, post-treatment with NAC aggravated ethanol-induced hepatic lipid peroxidation and worsened acute ethanol-induced liver damage in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, NAC has a dual effect on acute ethanol-induced liver damage. Pretreatment with NAC prevent from acute ethanol-induced liver damage via counteracting ethanol-induced oxidative stress. When administered after ethanol, NAC might behave as a pro-oxidant and aggravate acute ethanol-induced liver damage.