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Prolonged consumption of moderate doses of alcohol and in vitro gastro‐duodenal and ileal contractility in the rat
Author(s) -
PALASCIANO G.,
PORTINCASA P.,
CIAULA A. DI,
PALMIERI V.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
european journal of clinical investigation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.164
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1365-2362
pISSN - 0014-2972
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2362.1995.tb01544.x
Subject(s) - contractility , gastro , alcohol , in vitro , alcohol consumption , medicine , chemistry , gastroenterology , biochemistry , reflux , disease
. The effects of chronic feeding with moderate doses of ethanol (3% vol/vol in drinking water for 8 weeks), which do not induce tolerance, dependence and withdrawal, on the contractility of gastric, duodenal and ileal strips from rats were investigated. Only 50% of ethanol‐treated specimens (as compared to 100% of saccharose‐fed controls) exhibited antral phasic contractions (frequency decreased by 31% and 27% in the antrum and duodenum, respectively; P < 0.03 vs. controls). The depolarizing agent potassium chloride (KG, 80 mm) produced less peak active tension in the fundus of ethanol‐fed rats ( P < 0.01). In alcoholic rats the sensitivity of the antrum to acetyl‐choline was fourfold less than that of control specimens. It is concluded that, in the rat, moderate doses of ethanol given chronically impair both spontaneous and tonic contractility of the stomach and duodenal muscle without affecting ileal contraction. It is possible that motility defects in the gut exposed to ethanol concentrations which do not cause tolerance, dependence or withdrawal in the rat may be due to a local rather than a systemic effect on the smooth muscle.