Pancreatic exocrine function and morphologic changes were investigated in groups of rats receiving solutions of
ethanol by oral or intravenous route, or equicaloric doses of
glucose solution by intravenous route daily for a period of 4 weeks. Comparable degrees of exocrine dysfunction and morphologic changes in the pancreas at the ultrastructural level were observed in the groups given
ethanol orally and in those receiving i.v.
injections of
ethanol, suggesting that neither intragastric ingestion nor high blood levels of alcohol is required for alcohol to exert its pancreatotoxic effects. All groups of rats receiving
ethanol or
glucose showed signs and pathologic findings of
nutritional disorder, and at 4 weeks of treatment, electron microscopic abnormalities of the pancreas were more pronounced and higher in incidence in the groups given
ethanol p.o. or i.v. than in the groups given i.v. doses of
glucose. There was no microscopic evidence of
protein plug or other changes in the region of origin of the pancreatic duct system in rats after 18 months of
oral administration of
ethanol. The present findings indicate that the cytotoxic effect of alcohol on acinar cells and
nutritional disorder associated with alcohol ingestion constitute important factors in the pathogenesis of chronic
alcoholic pancreatitis.