Fig 3. Effect of chronic low-to-moderate ethanol consumption on cell differentiation in young adult and older rats.

Adult male Wistar rats at each age were allowed to voluntarily consume a 20% v/v ethanol solution on alternating days for 13 weeks or were given access only to water (non-ethanol-exposed control). (A) Differentiation (400x) in colonic crypts in younger ethanol-exposed and (B) older ethanol-exposed. Arrows indicate alcian stained goblet cells. (C) Ethanol significantly decreased the differentiation index only in older rats (P = 0.001). Bars with different superscripts differ significantly. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA, with follow up post hoc t-tests. Young/Control (N = 8); Young/Ethanol (N = 10); Old/Control (N = 11); Old/Ethanol (N = 12).