Oxidants have been shown to be involved in alcohol-induced liver injury. Moreover, 2-phenyl-1,2-benzisoselenazole-3(2H)-one (ebselen), an organoselenium compound and glutathione peroxidase mimic, decreases oxidative stress and protects against stroke clinically. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that ebselen protects against early alcohol-induced liver injury in rats. Male Wistar rats were fed high-fat liquid diets with or without ethanol (10-16 g/kg/d) continuously for up to 4 weeks using the intragastric enteral feeding protocol developed by Tsukamoto and French. Ebselen (50 mg/kg twice daily, intragastrically) or vehicle (1% tylose) was administered throughout the experiment. Mean urine ethanol concentrations were not significantly different between treatment groups, and ebselen did not affect body weight gains or cyclic patterns of ethanol concentrations in urine. After 4 weeks, serum ALT levels were increased significantly about 4-fold over control values (37 +/- 5 IU/l) by enteral ethanol (112 +/- 7 IU/l); ebselen blunted this increase significantly (61 +/- 8 IU/l). Enteral ethanol also caused severe fatty accumulation, mild inflammation, and necrosis in the liver (pathology score: 4.3 +/- 0.3). In contrast, these pathological changes were blunted significantly by ebselen (pathology score: 2.5 +/- 0.4). While there were no significant effects of either ethanol or ebselen on glutathione peroxidase activity in serum or liver tissue, ebselen blocked the increase in serum nitrate/nitrite caused by ethanol. Furthermore, ethanol increased the activity of NF-kappaB over 5-fold, the number of infiltrating neutrophils 4-fold, and the accumulation of 4-hydroxynonenal over 5-fold. Ebselen blunted all of these effects significantly. These results indicate that ebselen prevents early alcohol-induced liver injury, most likely by preventing oxidative stress, which decreases inflammation.