CHRONIC ALCOHOL FEEDING IN LIQUID DIET OR IN DRINKING-WATER HAS SIMILAR EFFECTS ON ELECTRON-MICROSCOPIC APPEARANCE OF THE HEPATIC SINUSOID IN THE RAT

Electron microscopic appearance of the liver sinusoid was examined in rats fed alcohol chronically in a complete liquid diet or in sucrose-c ontaining drinking water. The animals were kept on liquid diet (+/-alc ohol) for 14 weeks or on sucrose-containing drinking water (+/-alcohol ) for 12.5 weeks and sacrificed thereafter. To rule out possible artif act induced by fixation procedure, livers were fixed by immersion (no perfusion), immersion preceded by perfusion, and by perfusion with glu taraldehyde and examined with both scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Regardless of the mode of its administration, and of the f ixation procedure used, alcohol induced similar changes in liver sinus oid ultrastructure. Such changes included disruption of the sieve-plat e pattern of the sinusoidal endothelial cell fenestrations with the ap pearance of large gaps and resulting in a meshwork lining, wherein lar ge areas of the sinusoid communicated freely with the underlying hepat ocytes. Transmission electron microscopy complemented these findings. The results reported in this study demonstrate that alcohol-induced st ructural changes of the liver sinusoid in the rat are similar whether alcohol is fed via a liquid diet or in drinking water. Therefore, alco hol administration in drinking water may provide a simple, inexpensive , and convenient method of inducing structural changes in the rat live r sinusoid.