MODEL FOR VOLUNTARY WINE AND ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION IN RATS

It has been suggested that moderate consumption of ethanol and wine ha s a protective effect on human health. Animal models used to date for alcohol consumption can not mimic real situations in humans because th e consumption is forced and/or excessive. The present study proposes t o determine the effects of a voluntary and ad lib consumption model mo re similar to that of human behavior. Male Wistar rats had free access to either standard diet and water or the same diet plus red wine, swe et wine, or a solution equivalent to red wine (13.5% ethanol) or to sw eet wine (20% ethanol + 130 g/L sucrose) for 30 days or 6 months. Dail y wine consumption was 15.8 +/- 0.9 and 2.0 +/- 0.2 ml/day for sweet a nd red wines, respectively. The consumption of each of the alcoholic s olutions was similar to that of the wine they were simulating. Drinkin g wine or ethanol did not affect food and water intakes or growth rate . Plasma metabolites were not substantially affected by consumption of wine or ethanol. Although moderate and high wine consumption did not change the activity of plasma marker enzymes of tissue damage, the con sumption of the 2 alcoholic solutions caused a long-term increase in t he activity of aspartate aminotransferase. It seems that wine consumpt ion protects the organism from hepatic lesions induced by ethanol alon e. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.