ALCOHOL IN COMBINATION WITH MALNUTRITION CAUSES INCREASED LIVER FIBROSIS IN RATS

Rats were malnourished for 12 months with a highly inadequate fat-rich , calorie-sufficient but otherwise poly-deficient liquid diet composed of mashed potatoes with mayonnaise, comparable with the nutritional i ntake of many chronic alcoholics. When alcohol was incorporated into t his diet, administered as whisky in drinking water available ad libitu m, the livers of all eight rats showed increased fibrosis and cirrhosi s as compared to the livers of the eight non-alcohol-treated, isocalor ically fed, paired control rats. Alcohol-treated rats developed fibros is and cirrhosis on a dietary fat content of 38% of total caloric inta ke and low blood alcohol levels, ranging from 50 to 126 mg/dl, due to gradual intake over the day and to low absolute intake (mean 11.9+/-0. 6 g/kg per day). None of the rats died spontaneously. Malnutrition is likely to be an important factor in the development of the fibrosis of alcoholic liver disease, and this rat model may be used to study aspe cts of the pathogenesis. (C) Journal of Hepatology.