AJP - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, Vol 248, Issue 3 287-G292, Copyright © 1985 by American Physiological Society
Increased ethanol consumption and blood ethanol levels in rats with portacaval shunts
J. R. Martin, H. Porchet, R. Buhler and J. Bircher
In a series of experiments, it was demonstrated that male rats with
end-to-side portacaval shunts (PCS) consumed more ethanol and exhibited
higher blood ethanol levels than sham-operated control animals in chronic
tests with 2% ethanol and water ad libitum. Ethanol intake in the 6 h prior
to blood sampling was 2-5 times and blood ethanol 10-50 times higher in PCS
than control rats. These effects were not due to the feminization of male
rats occurring after a PCS, since female PCS rats exhibited comparable
increases of ethanol intake and blood ethanol. In both sexes ethanol
elimination rate and alcohol dehydrogenase activity per total liver were
lower after PCS than in control rats, explaining the disproportionate
increase in blood ethanol relative to ethanol intake. Interestingly,
ethanol intake was not abnormal in PCS rats fed a low-protein,
low-tryptophan diet (corn) alone or as a supplement to the usual chow diet.
Such dietary modulation of ethanol preference in this animal model of
chronic liver dysfunction merits further attention.
