The History of Alcoholic Liver Disease: From an Unrecognized Disease to One of the Most Frequent Diseases in Hepatology

Helmut K Seitz; Manuela G Neuman

doi:10.3390/jcm10040858

The History of Alcoholic Liver Disease: From an Unrecognized Disease to One of the Most Frequent Diseases in Hepatology

J Clin Med. 2021 Feb 19;10(4):858. doi: 10.3390/jcm10040858.

Authors

Helmut K Seitz^{1

2}, Manuela G Neuman³

Affiliations

¹ Centre of Liver and Alcohol Diseases, Ethianum Clinic, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
² Faculty of Medicine, University of Heidelberg, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
³ In Vitro Drug Safety and Biotechnology and the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1L5, Canada.

Abstract

This review describes the history of alcoholic liver disease from the beginning of the 1950s until now. It details how the hepatotoxicity of alcohol was discovered by epidemiology and basic research primarily by using new feeding techniques in rodents and primates. The article also recognizes the pioneering work of scientists who contributed to the understanding of the pathophysiology of alcoholic liver disease. In addition, clinical aspects, such as the development of diagnostics and treatment options for alcoholic liver disease, are discussed. Up-to-date knowledge of the mechanism of the disease in 2020 is presented.

Keywords: alcoholic liver disease; chronic alcohol consumption; hepatotoxicity; liver biopsy; liver inflammation.

Publication types

Review