Jl. Plummer et al., ALCOHOL LOW-DOSE CARBON TETRACHLORIDE-INDUCED CIRRHOSIS IN RATS USINGDIFFERENT METHODS OF ALCOHOL FEEDING, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 18(6), 1994, pp. 1502-1505
Cirrhosis may be reliably produced in rats by exposing them to low lev
els of carbon tetrachloride vapor while feeding alcohol in the Lieber-
DeCarli liquid diet. This study aimed to determine whether alternative
cheaper and more convenient ways of feeding alcohol would also allow
the production of cirrhosis. Animals were fed alcohol in the Lieber-De
Carli diet, in a gel diet, or by addition of alcohol + sucrose to thei
r drinking water, and were exposed to carbon tetrachloride vapor 6 hr/
night, 5 nights/week. After 12 weeks of treatment, all animals (4 of 4
) receiving alcohol in the Lieber-DeCarli diet, but only two in each o
f the gel and drinking water groups, were cirrhotic. The variable resu
lts with the gel diet may be due to loss of alcohol by evaporation fro
m the gel. Alcohol intake in the group receiving alcohol in drinking w
ater was greater than in those receiving Lieber-DeCarli diet. We sugge
st that the increased carbohydrate intake due to addition of sucrose t
o the water exerted a protective effect on the liver.