Prolonged consumption of moderate doses of alcohol and in vitro gastro‐duodenal and ileal contractility in the rat

Abstract

The effects of chronic feeding with moderate doses of ethanol (3% vol/vol in drinking water for 8 weeks), which do not induce tolerance, dependence and withdrawal, on the contractility of gastric, duodenal and ileal strips from rats were investigated. Only 50% of ethanol-treated specimens (as compared to 100% of saccharose-fed controls) exhibited antral phasic contractions (frequency decreased by 31% and 27% in the antrum and duodenum, respectively; P < 0.03 vs. controls). The depolarizing agent potassium chloride (KCl, 80 mM) produced less peak active tension in the fundus of ethanol-fed rats (P < 0.01). In alcoholic rats the sensitivity of the antrum to acetylcholine was fourfold less than that of control specimens. It is concluded that, in the rat, moderate doses of ethanol given chronically impair both spontaneous and tonic contractility of the stomach and duodenal muscle without affecting ileal contraction. It is possible that motility defects in the gut exposed to ethanol concentrations which do not cause tolerance, dependence or withdrawal in the rat may be due to a local rather than a systemic effect on the smooth muscle.

Chronic Ethanol Administration Induces Oxidative Alterations and Functional Impairment of Pancreatic Mitochondria in the Rat

“…The mean alcohol intake was 4.05 g·kg –1 ·day –1 and the mean total dose of ETOH ingested by rats was 228 ± 21 g. The final weight was similar in both groups of rats (374 ± 27 vs. 391 ± 21 g in the ETOH and saccharose groups, respectively). No tolerance, dependence or withdrawal was observed in the ETOH-fed rats, as also confirmed by previous studies in which animals were fed the same diet [10, 11]. The study was approved by the State Commission on animal experiments.…”

Animal Models and Their Results in Gastrointestinal Alcohol Research

“…In contrast to fi ndings in the duodenum and stomach, chronic ethanol feeding (3% v/v for 8 weeks) did not affect the motility of the ileum in rats [46] .…”

Effect of Ethanol Exposure on Slow Wave Activity and Smooth Muscle Contraction in the Rat Small Intestine

“…Ethanol has been reported to stimulate, inhibit, or exert no effect on the gastrointestinal motility depending on the concentration and the mode of administration [9,[17][18][19] although there is evidence to suggest that a large dose of alcohol administration causes delay in both gastric and small intestine transit [2,20]. The motor activity of the gut is to a large part determined by the propagation of the slow waves and the accompanying spike potentials [7].…”