Repeated alcoholic intoxication compared with continued consumption of dilute ethanol in experiments with rats on a marginal diet

Abstract

1. The effects have been compared of log-term administration of similar amount of ethanol given either diluted in drinking water or spaced out in the form of intoxicating doses.2. The effect of ethanol on the development of liver lesions produced by a marginal diet was examined. The measurements of growth rate, water balance, plasma glucose and electrolytes, rate of ethanol elimination, and some behavioural tests for the detection of tolerance and possible signs of neurological disturbance were also included.3. Isocalorically pair-fed growing male rats were subjected to three different regimens for 6 months: (A) ethanol solution as the sole drinking fluid with 2 days' intake adjusted to approximately 5 mg/g body-weight; (B) a similar quantity of ethanol give as a single intoxicating dose per os on alternate days; (C) oleic acid isocaloric with the ethanolper oson alternate days.4. All the regimens caused fatty liver. Hepatic fibrosis, as judged macro- and micro- scopically, was equally severe after treatments A and C, but milder after treatment B.5. Growth was retarded by intoxication, which also brought about a large increase in water consumption, without exerting other clear effects on water balance or on plasma electrolytes. The rate of ethanol elimination was increased by repeated intoxication. Behavioural tolerance of the effects of ethanol was also found in the animals subjected to intoxication.