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“Binge” Versus Steady Drinking: Effects on the Liver in the Ovariectomized Rat
Author(s) -
Gavaler Judith S.,
Smith William I.,
Thiel David H.,
Rosenblum Elaine R.,
Deal Stephen R.,
Allan Marjorie J.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1993.tb00775.x
Subject(s) - medicine , body weight , endocrinology , alcohol , infiltration (hvac) , calorie , ethanol , liver function , liver injury , chemistry , zoology , biology , biochemistry , thermodynamics , physics
Substantial interest exists as to whether or not differential effects in liver injury based on the pattern of alcohol intake exist; and further, if they do, are they simply a function of the total dose over time. A rat model in which ethanol (ETOH) at doses of 12%, 24%, or 36% of total calories was isocalorically administered for 4 months either daily or intermittently (4 days of ETOH, 3 days of control diet, repeatedly) was used to assess this question. There were significant differences in the two feeding pattern groups between 38% ETOH rats for the liver weight corrected for body weight, the fat infiltration score, the total amount of ETOH consumed/mg body weight, the proportion of animals with a fat infiltration score >2, and albumin levels. There was a significant difference between 12% ETOH rats for the liver weight corrected for body weight. Of particular relevance is the comparison to be made between Daily 12% ETOH and Binge 24% ETOH animals, because these two groups consumed an identical total amount of ETOH/mg body weight (Daily: 445 ± 5 vs. Binge: 468 ± 15) and thus these animals are comparable in terms of ETOH dose over time but different in terms of the pattern of ETOH exposure. There were no differences in the liver/body ratio (Daily: 235 ± 6 vs. Binge: 232 ± 4), fat infiltration score (Daily: 2.5 ± 4 vs. Binge: 2.4 ± 0.3), the proportion of animals with a fat infiltration score >2 (Daily: 5/10 vs. Binge: 4/8), or albumin levels (Daily: 3.0 ± 0.1 vs. Binge: 3.1 ± 0.1). These data, in addition to the findings of greater injury in both the 12% and 36% ETOH daily‐fed animals, suggest that it is the cumulative amount, not the pattern of ETOH intake, that determines the liver injury.