Liver depleted of Kupffer cells shows a decrease in tissue damage induced by ethanol feeding [21]. Kupffer cells produce a large amount of inflammatory citokines, especially TNF-α. Kupffer cells from fed-ethanol animals are more susceptible to LPS due to increased expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) [22] that binds LPS and regulates TNF-α secretion [23]. Accumulating evidences suggest that ethanol sensitizes Kupffer cells to LPS through the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by NAPDH oxydase and CYP2E1 [24].
