A new oral low-carbohydrate alcohol liquid diet producing liver lesions: a preliminary account.

Abstract

Male Wistar rats were administered a modified, but nutritionally adequate, ethanol liquid diet with a low content of carbohydrate (5.5% of energy). The high daily intake of ethanol (mean 12.9 g/kg body wt) resulted in consistently sustained elevation of diurnal blood ethanol levels (mean 40.3 +/- 14.9mmol/l, corresponding to 180mg/dl). Marked micro- and macrovesicular panlobular steatosis, occasional inflammatory foci and a threefold elevation of serum alanine aminotransferase activity developed in 6 weeks. In livers from rats on regular 11% carbohydrate diet, lesions beyond periportally located steatosis were rare. These observations suggest that oral administration of a low-carbohydrate liquid ethanol diet may provide an affordable alternative to the technically demanding intragastric feeding model for experimental studies of alcoholic liver disease.

• Authors: K O Lindros, H A Järveläinen
• Journal: Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) (Alcohol Alcohol) 1998 Jul-Aug Vol. 33 Issue 4 Pg. 347-53 ISSN: 0735-0414 [Print] England
• PMID: 9719392 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Dietary Carbohydrates
• Ethanol
• Alanine Transaminase

Topics

• Alanine Transaminase (blood)
• Analysis of Variance
• Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
• Animals
• Dietary Carbohydrates (administration & dosage)
• Disease Models, Animal
• Ethanol (administration & dosage)
• Fatty Liver, Alcoholic (enzymology, etiology, pathology)
• Food, Formulated (analysis)
• Male
• Nutritional Requirements
• Rats
• Statistics, Nonparametric