Skip to main content
PMC home page
Gut logoLink to Gut
. 1987 Jan;28(1):52–55. doi: 10.1136/gut.28.1.52

Effect of chronic ethanol ingestion on enterocyte turnover in rat small intestine.

R Mazzanti, W J Jenkins
PMCID: PMC1432730  PMID: 3817585

Abstract

Whether chronic ethanol ingestion significantly damages the small intestine remains controversial. To clarify this we have analysed the morphology of the small intestinal epithelium and quantified its renewal in chronically ethanol fed rats. Twenty adult male rats were pair fed for 28 days a nutritionally adequate liquid diet containing either ethanol as 36% of total calories or an isocaloric diet in which fat substituted for ethanol. Crypt cell production rate was determined in the jejunum and ileum by the metaphase arrest method. Weight gain and small intestinal morphology were similar in ethanol fed and control rats, but enterocyte turnover was significantly reduced in the jejunum (p less than 0.05) and ileum (p less than 0.01) of the ethanol fed rats. This effect of ethanol on the small intestine is probably systemic rather than local, because the changes in jejunum and ileum were similar, and it may contribute to the development of malnutrition in chronic alcoholics.

Full text

PDF
52

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aldewachi H. S., Wright N. A., Appleton D. R., Watson A. J. The effect of starvation and refeeding on cell population kinetics in the rat small bowel mucosa. J Anat. 1975 Feb;119(Pt 1):105–121. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Balaghi M., Neal R. A. Effect of chronic ethanol administration on thiamin metabolism in the rat. J Nutr. 1977 Dec;107(12):2144–2152. doi: 10.1093/jn/107.12.2144. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Barona E., Pirola R. C., Leiber C. S. Small intestinal damage and changes in cell population produced by ethanol ingestion in the rat. Gastroenterology. 1974 Feb;66(2):226–234. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bjarnason I., Peters T. J., Wise R. J. The leaky gut of alcoholism: possible route of entry for toxic compounds. Lancet. 1984 Jan 28;1(8370):179–182. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(84)92109-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Clarke R. M. The effect of growth and of fasting on the number of villi and crypts in the small intestine of the albino rat. J Anat. 1972 May;112(Pt 1):27–33. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Draper L. R., Gyure L. A., Hall J. G., Robertson D. Effect of alcohol on the integrity of the intestinal epithelium. Gut. 1983 May;24(5):399–404. doi: 10.1136/gut.24.5.399. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ghirardi P., Marzon A., Sardini D., Marchetti G. Changes in intestinal absorption of glucose in rats treated with ethanol. Experientia. 1971 Jan 15;27(1):61–62. doi: 10.1007/BF02137742. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Halsted C. H., Griggs R. C., Harris J. W. The effect of alcoholism on the absorption of folic acid (H3-PGA) evaluated by plasma levels and urine excretion. J Lab Clin Med. 1967 Jan;69(1):116–131. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Halsted C. H., Robles E. A., Mezey E. Distribution of ethanol in the human gastrointestinal tract. Am J Clin Nutr. 1973 Aug;26(8):831–834. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/26.8.831. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hermos J. A., Adams W. H., Liu Y. K., Sullivan L. W., Trier J. S. Mucosa of the small intestine in folate-deficient alcoholics. Ann Intern Med. 1972 Jun;76(6):957–965. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-76-6-957. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Israel Y., Salazar I., Rosenmann E. Inhibitory effects of alcohol on intestinal amino acid transport in vivo and in vitro. J Nutr. 1968 Dec;96(4):499–504. doi: 10.1093/jn/96.4.499. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Krasner N., Cochran K. M., Russell R. I., Carmichael H. A., Thompson G. G. Alcohol and absorption from the small intestine. 1. Impairment of absorption from the small intestine in alcoholics. Gut. 1976 Apr;17(4):245–248. doi: 10.1136/gut.17.4.245. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kuo Y. J., Shanbour L. L. Effects of ethanol on sodium, 3-O-methyl glucose, and L-alanine transport in the jejunum. Am J Dig Dis. 1978 Jan;23(1):51–56. doi: 10.1007/BF01072575. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Langman M. J., Bell G. D. Alcohol and the gastrointestinal tract. Br Med Bull. 1982 Jan;38(1):71–75. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.bmb.a071737. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lindenbaum J., Lieber C. S. Alcohol-induced malabsorption of vitamin B12 in man. Nature. 1969 Nov 22;224(5221):806–806. doi: 10.1038/224806a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Rubin E., Rybak B. J., Lindenbaum J., Gerson C. D., Walker G., Lieber C. S. Ultrastructural changes in the small intestine induced by ethanol. Gastroenterology. 1972 Nov;63(5):801–814. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Tomasulo P. A., Kater R. M., Iber F. L. Impairment of thiamine absorption in alcoholism. Am J Clin Nutr. 1968 Nov;21(11):1341–1344. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/21.11.1341. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Trier J. S., Browning T. H. Morphologic response of the mucosa of human small intestine to x-ray exposure. J Clin Invest. 1966 Feb;45(2):194–204. doi: 10.1172/JCI105332. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Watson A. J., Appleton D. R., Wright N. A. Adaptive cell-proliferative changes in the small-intestinal mucosa in coeliac disease. Scand J Gastroenterol Suppl. 1982;74:115–127. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Worthington B. S., Meserole L., Syrotuck J. A. Effect of daily ethanol ingestion on intestinal permeability to macromolecules. Am J Dig Dis. 1978 Jan;23(1):23–32. doi: 10.1007/BF01072571. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Gut are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES